By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The corner of Main Ave. and Park St. in the heart of New York Mills has long been a gathering spot for area residents of all ages. The former Mills Bakery location was a place where residents could come in for a hot cup of coffee, a roll and solve a few of the worlds problems along the way.

The bakery has long since moved to the former Creamery building in town, and since that time the former Mills Bakery building has been left vacant, with only the memories of those who frequented the business with the memories left inside the walls of the once bustling building in downtown NY Mills.

All of that changed recently with the complete transformation of the former bakery building into the new Continental Divide Brew Pub. The new business has brought a second chance of life to the one-time institution of NY Mills and brought renewed hope of revitalizing the downtown NY Mills area. 

“There was a group of us a couple of years ago and we came up with the idea that was kind of different,” said Latham Hetland who is one of the investors in a group that brought the new brew pub to town. 

A group of investors, which has grown to 25 people, began discussing things that were needed in NY Mills to make it a bustling town once again. One of the ideas was a brew pub concept with unique food options that were not found in other locations in the community.

Hetland said the group began looking at potential locations for the new business venture and toured the former bakery quite a few times, but never felt the location was quite right for their new venture. After pondering the location a number of times, the group finally felt the former bakery was the perfect spot for the new brew pub.

“We looked at this building about five times and didn’t think it would be right and on the sixth time we were like this would be great,” he said. 

Hetland said when the new brew pub building was the Mills Bakery it was the heart of the community and the downtown area. It was a place where people would gather, visit and catch up on years gone by. The group is hoping the new Continental Brew Pub can serve a similar purpose in the community, albeit with a slightly different atmosphere.

Since purchasing the building last year, the group of investors stripped the building down to the studs and built it back up. A lot of the chopped wood used on an accent wall and throughout the building was from wood gathered at a farm in Butler and other decorations in the facility pay homage to NY Mills’ rich history in the lumber and milling industry.

As the group began planning a menu, their hope was to offer something that was both unique to NY Mills and the region. They installed a large natural gas and fire grill to create a pizza that is more commonly found in the Twin Cities area than rural Minnesota. The larger than life pizza oven is visible throughout the facility and can cook a pizza in a fraction of the time than a conventional pizza oven, while also giving it a unique taste and texture. 

Cyrus Bickell, who has been hired as the general manager, said the food created at the Continental Divide Brew Pub will be made from scratch and sourced locally as much as possible. After working at Disgruntled Brewing in Perham for the past eight years, he is hoping that quality food and a unique environment will set the establishment apart from others in the region.

“Just trying to get ourselves apart not just in the community, but in the general area,” he said. 

A number of the pizza and food names have a Finnish or milling twist on them. For instance there is the River Pig, which is an old milling term given to the men who undertook the dangerous task of guiding logs downstream.

Even the name itself pays tribute to NY Mills’ unique placement along the Confidential Divide. The divide is just a short walk away from the current location of the pub and divides water from the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay.

In addition to unique pizza selections, the Continental Divide Brew Pub will serve a wide selection of food items that will change routinely. It will also have a large selection of local beer and more national brands to give the location an ever changing product line for customers. 

The Continental Divide Brew Pub is located at 32 N. Main Ave in NY Mills and will be open from 4-10 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. It will be closed on Monday and Tuesday. 

For more information, visit Continental Divide Brew Pub online at www.cdbpnym.com.