Tuesday, September 17, 2024
“There are no more tents now,” said Mike Stroik at Hinderfest, the Saturday, Sept. 7, annual beer bash hosted by H.H. Hinder Brewing Company.
He was referring to previous years when he had to stake out large party tents for the fall festival, along with tents for hosting the spring Head Butt Homebrew Competition.
That is a chore of the past now that the restoration of the former Zwicker knitting mill building is near completion. It was complete enough that Stroik opened it for Hinderfest but he said he will close it down until the end of the year and will take no bookings for events until more finishing touches can be completed.
The venue is expansive and there are areas that have been subdivided in special areas: the Zwicker Room, the Purl Pub and Winston’s Cellar.
The last one is a play on the Churchill Street address [Winston Churchill] and the building’s name, The Eight 10, is from the street number.
Stroik said his favorite quote by Churchill was, “My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.” He was referring to wife Jackie, a partner in bringing the old building back to life and she also hunted down Zwicker memorabilia to showcase as homage to local history.
Other vintage items are on display or built into the building structure: windows salvaged from the former St. Mary Magdalene Church, giant rough-cut 10-by-10 beams with iron footers from the old mill by the treatment plant and antique steel fire safety doors made in Milwaukee that were once restrained by ropes – once the fire burned through the rope, the massive door slammed shut to contain the fire.
