*Keeping your glass filled and spirits high one Thursday at a time! We introduce The Squeaky Curd readers to Welcome to Thursdays, a local social group determined to make your Thursdays more fun. Each Wednesday we will feature a hilariously fictitious history of a Milwaukee County bar that we will gather at on Thursday evening – join us weekly!*
Greetings and Salutations my most humble Thursdians,
Here Ye, Here Ye! Let it be known that Thursday nights are meant to be celebrated with good people and tasty concoctions! I invite all of you to come out this Thursday as we journey to the City Lounge (3455 E. Layton Avenue). Built on the ashes of Old World Milwaukee, the City Lounge is a fusion of old and new; thus, always a good choice for your Thursday night shenanigans. We are in for a treat this Thursday as we have the honor of attending bar trivia hosted by the one and only Frank Irons. The Irons name runs deep in the history of Milwaukee, most notably for the great London Leap done in the 1908 London Summer Olympic Games by Francis “Frank” Irons.
The significance of the 1908 games are astronomical to today’s US Olympic squad, as this was the first year the USA started the frowned upon tradition of not dipping our flag to the host nation. Ralph Rose was a US track and field contestant and he refused to dip his flag to King-Emperor Edward VII in the royal box. Francis “Frank” Irons was well known for supporting Rose’s decision stating, “this flag dips to no king.”
When it came time for the long jump competition, the White City Stadium had a roaring crowd of 68,000 fans cheering on the host nation of Great Britain and their very own Peter O’Connor, the long jump world record holder and crowd favorite of the day. It had been a long day of competition for Irons, and he was exhausted. He had taken sixteenth in the triple jump, eighth in the standing long jump, and had little hope left for a medal in the long jump. As Frank wearily took his mark, a voice echoed from the shadows of the stadium tunnel and a bald eagle came soaring over the field, dropping a single can of Old Milwaukee into Irons’ hands. This voice was the voice of freedom and patriotism: Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy had one thing to say, “do what you can, with what you have, where you are”. The eagle landed on Teddy’s shoulders and he disappeared back into the shadows. Irons cracked that great, beautiful can of freedom and sipped the legendary brew. He went on to take gold in the long jump that day, bringing pride and glory to the USA.
Now we all know the phrase “Red Bull gives you wings”; but what you don’t know is that Red Bull took that phrase from Irons’ famous London Leap Motto:
Cheers my friends!
Your Welcome to Thursdays Founder,
Jeremy Blandin
Join us at City Lounge located at 3455 E. Layton Ave. in Cudahy for trivia (or just drinking..) Thursday, September 1 at 7:30pm.