Longtime Wichita ‘dive bar’ is reopening with a new identity, remodel, big beer garden
She closed her other Wichita bar — The New Stadium — after the COVID-19 pandemic started.
But now, Jeannie Ahrens is about to revive another popular Wichita dive bar.
This weekend Ahrens is opening The Cowboy Inn Saloon, which she’s tagged “the best little dive bar in Wichita,” in the site of the former The Cowboy Inn, which has operated since 1989 at 642 N. St. Paul. That’s near the intersection of Central and Zoo Boulevard.
Her grand opening celebration is set for Saturday. It begins at 1 p.m. with live music starting at 3 p.m. and food on the patio starting at 4 p.m. The bar will also feature dancing, pool and ping pong, and Ahrens is planning to grill food each weekend.
There’s a big outdoor beer garden behind the bar, and Ahrens said she did a complete remodel inside.
She purchased the bar and started the remodel in February, Ahrens said. But because of the pandemic, she’s only just now able to get it open.
The bar’s hours will be 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays through Fridays and 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Ahrens reopened The Stadium Bar at 620 W. Maple in Delano in April 2017. She’d been a longtime bartender there, and when she took over, she called the place The New Stadium. It became a venue for live music and had bands several nights a week.
Ahrens closed the bar on March 17, just as the pandemic took hold in Wichita. Eventually, Ahrens decided she had to close it for good.
“It just couldn’t hold on,” she said.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 11:22 AM.
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