The Buffalo Inn?

Painted by a local artist, this mural is the first thing you notice in the bar.

Everyone has a good time in the BUFF! My local bar! Owned by his mother, but operated by my long-time friend Brett, The Buffalo Inn is where it is at Friday and Saturday nights in Eskridge, no matter how many people are more loyal to the stupid lodge at the lake…

My friends Logan and Danny goof off in the BUFF!

A community staple in my little town, the Buffalo Inn has been in and out of operation since the 70′s and if you ask any of the locals to tell you their favorite Buffalo Inn story, I guarantee they will have a good one, even if they weren’t present for the event.

How am I involved? Why am I involved? Like I said, my long-time friend, Brett, has been opening the bar on the weekends for the last couple years. Not to make money, because he doesn’t, (his family pays out of their pocket to pay most of the bills), but because even though they aren’t as supportive as they could be, the people of Eskridge need and want their Buffalo Inn. It’s a great bar, especially for live music, and Jack Nicholson has been in it! And in case you weren’t aware, some of Sarah, Plain and Tall was filmed around here in the Flint Hills and one of our locals even had a small role, or so I’ve been told.  Her name is Maisie Devore, and she collected cans for years to help raise money to build a pool in Eskridge. The place has great stories and real potential to be a popular place for anyone to enjoy the experience of live music, good food (when he can finally afford to serve it), and good company.

Corbin of Free State Revival entertains an adoring crowd with his performance.

Eventually, I would like to help him run it the way it should be run, as the Buffalo Inn Bar and Grill featuring live music at least once a month and occasional private, V.I.P. events with big name artists for people who want to pay big bucks to watch a show, eat a good meal and have a few beers with their favorite musical artist in a great small town atmosphere. Everyone thinks I’m dreaming too big with this idea, but I think it would be great.

And the Buffalo Inn produces a great atmosphere. High ceilings, no side windows, great acoustics, and an enclosed stage area in front of a big dance floor make it an awesome environment for live music. It looks small from the outside, but the BUFF is larger and longer than it seems and has plenty of room for at least 200 people. On big dance nights, the St. Patrick’s Day Dance being the largest and most successful of every year, it’s shoulder to shoulder and it’s not a Buffalo Inn dance until someone is on the bar stomping and clapping to the music being played. I’ve seen it full of people from end-to-end and it is a very long bar.

Everyone gets lucky in the BUFF for St. Patty's Day!

For now, I maintain a MySpace and Facebook page for the bar and have been put in charge, to a degree, of organizing live music events with artists not local to our area. I also help him paint, clean up before and after big events, and I do, of course, lend him my customer service skills behind the bar and help him serve people anytime he’s not around and they need to be beered. I make Brett more tips than he makes for himself. It’s my winning smile, my amazing wit and my charm that brings in the dollar bills and “left-over” quarters. I’m also the official photographer of the Buffalo Inn.

This is what it looks like, when it's empty.

Brett also shares my desire to preserve our small town and our “nearly untouched by the city and all that is modern” county. I will spend the next ten to twenty years of my life; however, trying to convince him that his bar is the key to saving the town and rest of the Flint Hills from extinction. His dad is kind of old school and wants to run things his way, so until his dad can see reason, is too weak to fight him or is simply “out of the way”, Brett refuses to believe in me, but it’s not his fault. I’ve given him nothing to believe in, which is another reason why I want to write movies.

Once I prove that I can do all of the things I say I can do and that the things I know will happen, always happen, maybe he will finally listen to me.  Maybe then we can make a real go at turning his family’s bar into a real business that makes money, because I know that it will help revive this small town and turn it into the great place to live and visit that I know it can be.

Brett's family does have buffalo. This used to be one of them.

Feel free to check out the Buffalo Inn MySpace page and watch the Free State Revival videos I filmed and edited!