New owners at Grand National

WAUPACA – Built on the corner of South Main Street and East Union Street in 1890, the Old First National Bank building has become an iconic downtown landmark, with its recent sale two new owners will be taking over the lease at the Grand National Lounge.
Jenn Beland and Kelly Atkins, who have been bartending at the Grand National Lounge for over a year, are the new owners of the historic lounge that reopened in April 2023.
The opportunity arose when the building was sold and the new owners did not want to run a lounge, instead wanting to concentrate on creating a boutique hotel for downtown Waupaca.
Atkins said she wasn’t necessarily looking to buy own and operate a bar; however, she worried it would be shut down if she and Beland didn’t step up.
Atkins, who moved to Waupaca from Wausau, said she started her career in journalism. Now she works in the healthcare with dementia patients.

Beland, originally from upper Michigan, said she was a title examiner for a period of time and she has spent most of her career baking and cooking around the area, including owning a bakery in Amherst, working as a chef at Green Fountain Inn and a chef at Cronies.
Atkins said when she first moved to Waupaca her grandmother and dog had passed away within a day of each other, which led to not getting out of the house as much.
She decided she would try bartending as a way to meet people, so she called the previous owner and talked to her about joining the team at Grand National Lounge.
“Jenn trained me and we just worked so well together and we had such great camaraderie,” said Atkins. “I was really happy that I decided to do it.”
Now that the papers have been signed and they have taken over the Grand National Lounge they started making plans as they move forward.
“I think for both of us we see this as a community space, I think one of the attractive things to me are people making friends here and we plan to use it for poetry and different things to have a space for the community to use it as well,” said Atkins.
Beland agrees that that the lounge helps to encourage meeting new people and making friends.
“It’s a really nice place for people to meet,” said Beland. “It’s the best part, I think, of being here, is watching people come together. It’s different than other places, different than other bars.”
Among the new upgrades they are planning is getting more music in house, currently they have music every third Thursday of the month by working with Waupaca Local Live. A band will play at the city hall recording studio for an hour and then come to the Grand National Lounge and do another hour of music.
“We’ve had bands in here and the acoustics in here are great,” said Atkins.
They have also set up a couple guitars and a microphone as well as an amp for anyone feeling the itch to get up and perform.
They are also hoping to build an extra bar in the back room for beer and wine for music nights to help accommodate guests, then when there is not a band it would be another place for people to sit.
They would also like to have a mocktail menu that will have five to seven mocktail options, they are also working on a more extensive martini menu that they hope to release soon.
Beland said they want to concentrate on local as they plan to get Central Waters Brewery beer available as well as coffee from Java Jive Roastery in Waupaca.
Atkins said customers have been asking for snacks, so they are talking about bringing in some snacks such as charcuterie trays to satiate hungry patrons.
Beland said they plan to allow the back room to be rented for parties or gatherings, as well as being open for events with that are happening in the downtown area.
They also plan on being open for special events such as St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 with traditional Irish music from Gearoid Sexton.
Overall they are looking forward to the future of The Grand National and making a new gathering spot in the community.
The Grand National Lounge is open Wednesdays and Thursdays 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. as well as Fridays and Saturdays 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. They can be found on Facebook at The Grand National Lounge GNL or on Instagram at The Grand National Lounge.