Last week my group of “new friends” and I went to lunch at The Barrel Drive-In in Clear Lake, Iowa! Have you heard of it? Been there? Love the chicken? Don’t want it to disappear from North Iowa? Well, neither do we and that’s why we’ve started our social media campaign to support and #SavetheBarrel!
Seth, the owner was only 14 when he started working at the Barrel! In 2007 he had the opportunity to purchase the Barrel from the previous owners and he snatched the opportunity up. Fast forward and the building is old (the original part of the building was built in 1958), time has not been friendly to the Barrel’s facade and other structural aspects! Just like everything else in today’s world, if you can’t keep up, you’ll be shut out. As big as Seth’s heart is for the Barrel, he just couldn’t keep up, so he was looking at closing and selling. He did have one option, which was a large corporation next door that would purchase the location and tear it down and make it a parking lot. Seth couldn’t do that. He couldn’t stand the thought of something that was so close to his heart closing and being torn down, so he started to look at other options.
He was introduced to several people who started helping him. Helping him look for resources to help him get on his feet and things turned around. One of those people that he was “hooked up” with is Sara of Social Connections LLC who is working to bring the Barrel’s social media to life and that she has! They are now actively on Facebook, have a Twitter account, an Instagram account! There is a website www.savethebarrel.com!
Seth has great vision! He wants to make the Barrel into a destination restaurant complete with a soda fountain, refresh the car hop area, and revitalize the DJ booth on the roof! He wants it to be a place for kids to hang out, he wants it to be a hoppin’ joint just like it used to be! Like the years that people would actually place their cars at the Barrel at 8AM to reserve their spot for that night! How can you hate on Seth for having such drive, heart, and determination? If you’d like to donate time, money, services, professional skills, please visit this website! Help us #SavetheBarrel!
