By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

After a successful six months in operation, the Continental Divide Brew Pub located at 32 North Main Avenue, New York Mills, will be hosting their grand opening on Saturday, Aug. 24 and Sunday, Aug. 25.

Cyrus Bickell, manager of the establishment, said that the grand opening event will be held both inside and out at their location on North Main Avenue as the street will be closed to traffic to accommodate live music, a bean bag tournament and other specialties of the occasion.

“We wanted to have it outdoors with the nice weather,” said Bickell. “We’ll have Main Avenue shut down, so we’ll have a trailer stage and the end for music.”

The business will be hosting a bean bag tournament on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. A team registration fee of $30 will be taken with the winner taking home 100 percent of the profits. Registration can be made prior to the event or online at www.cdbpnym.com.

“We’re putting together a bunch of prizes,” said Bickell. “We have some of our vendors who are donating a bunch of stuff.”

Alongside the outdoor festivities will be some live music by a variety of bands. The music will kick off on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 4 p.m. by Battle Lake resident Darren Quam who played at the Fish House Festival in July. Sunday’s music will begin with the Crop Dusters, who will be followed by Hiahli at 9 p.m.

In addition to the outdoor festivities, a Battle of the Breweries Tap Takeover between Talking Waters Brewing Co. and Elm Creek Brewing will take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“I’m friends with the bands and friends with the breweries,” said Bickell of what he’s looking forward to, “and just being able to celebrate that we’ve been open for a while. It’s been a busy summer for us.”

The Brew Pub opened for business on February 3 with a soft opening and has been ramping up operations since then. Their grand opening serves as a way to celebrate their success thus far and to cap off the busy summer.

“I’m really hoping to see a lot of new faces,” said Bickell. “People that have heard about this event and might be able to come out here for the first time and check out the food and everything.”

With a staff of about 13 people, it will be all hands on deck this weekend to make sure everything goes smoothly. The business highlights its employees each week with a Staff Pick specialty pizza being dreamed up by a rotating employee on a weekly basis.

The Brew Pub also wanted to recognize their sponsors Esser Plumbing and Heating, Farmers & Merchants State Bank, Midsota Construction, McCall Construction, Warner Garage Door and R.D. Offut for their contributions to the business over the past year.

Make sure to stop next weekend for a taste of wood fired pizza and other specialty offerings at NY Mills’ newest restaurant this weekend.