MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - Fifteen years ago, Cheryl Engle was a struggling single mom and nurse. Trying to make ends meet, she took a waitressing job at the Oasis Bar and Grill, Indiana’s oldest family-owned bar.
Now, she owns it.
Engle, who splits her time between Muncie and Florida, where her children live, heard from a friend that the bar was up for sale. The idea of the Oasis being for sale seemed crazy to her, and she wanted to see it for herself. As she surveyed the building, customers tried to convince her to buy it.
“A lot of the, we call them the ‘old-timers,’ they were saying, ‘We don’t want his place to close up. You should buy it,’ ” Engle said. “Next thing you know, I was making an offer and bought the place.”
Purchased in 1952 by Herschel and Dorothy Mason, the bar at 1811 S. Burlington Dr. has remained family-owned ever since.
Once Hershel and Dorothy retired, their son, Steve, and his wife, Jerri, took over. When Steve could no longer take care of day-to-day operations about 13 years ago, his sister, Dianne Bradshaw, came back full-time to be manager of the bar.
When Bradshaw put the bar up for sale back in July, she told The Star Press it had gone through many changes. It was a nightclub when her parents bought it, complete with big bands and a dance floor. From there, it became more sports-oriented. More recently, it’s become more of a neighborhood bar.
Serving breakfast through dinner daily, the bar became known for its signature hand-breaded tenderloins and hand-patted hamburgers.
While the new owners have made many cosmetic updates to the Oasis, one of their main goals is to honor the Mason family’s legacy, whether through the food or historic items like the neon sign near the road.
“There’s a desire here that, while we wanted to update the appearance and all of those things, we still have a desire to continue to respect and honor tradition that the Masons started,” said manager Michelle Phillips.
Since Engle purchased the Oasis in November, keeping the Mason’s family traditions has been important. The Oasis remains a family-owned establishment, as the new business venture is something Engle is doing with her brother, Mark Polston.
“We want to make it where people realize a family that loves each other and works with each other can be successful, own businesses, help the community and help the public,” Polston said.
Despite a few new additions, the menu has remained largely the same, especially when it comes to customer favorites like chicken noodle soup and tenderloins.
Management is bringing back homemade lunch specials every day. While it used to be a regular practice at the bar, it had become hit or miss in recent years, Phillips said. Beers on tap also have been added.
Since taking over in November, Engle has implemented many cosmetic changes to the bar, including new flooring, a stage for live bands and a dance floor. While the bar is located in the same place, it has been completely renovated. New chairs, tables and barstools have been added.
Both Engle and Phillips said the changes have been welcomed by customers, even by regulars who have been sitting at the same bar for decades.
“People walk in and they’re just like, ‘Wow, this looks great,’ ” Engle said. “But yet they know they can still come in here and get the Muncie Oasis tenderloin on Tuesdays and chicken noodle on Thursdays. I think that just kind of speaks for itself.”
The new owners say they have tried the keep the spirit of past owners alive. Even though Steve Mason died a few years ago, Phillips still held a celebration at the bar for his birthday, offering a special on birthday shots that evening.
“We just wanted to continue to honor the tradition that was, because they built something really grand here,” Phillips said. “At one time, it was awesome here. Everybody went to ‘the O.’ ”
While many traditions are easily seen throughout the Oasis, one had gone unnoticed for decades. On Saturday evening, Engle was able to bring that one back.
One way Engle and her team welcomed the community back to the Oasis was by holding a relighting ceremony of the bar’s iconic neon sign, which features monkeys climbing up the side.
Dave Stover, owner of Finyl Vinyl Signs, remembers when his mother worked at the bar when he was a child and watching the monkeys as they would drive by.
Stover has been working on signs, historical and current, for almost 34 years now. He has restored the Lemon Drop sign in Anderson, the Paramount Theatre sign in Anderson and the former Burkie’s Drive-In sign in Muncie.
“This is the oldest sign left in Muncie,” Stover said of the Oasis sign.
It does have some competition with historic Muncie neon signs, though, notably the ones for Burkie’s and Muncie’s first McDonald’s restaurant at Madison and Charles streets. Since Stover restored the Burkie’s sign while it was still here, he knew it was erected in 1954. As for McDonald’s, newspaper reports date that historic sign to 1958.The Oasis sign was installed in 1952.
Stover told The Star Press the Oasis sign hasn’t been completely lit for about 40 years, and when Engle was a waitress years ago, she didn’t remember seeing it lit at all.
From the repeater switch that makes the monkeys move to pieces of neon, it took Stover about three months to restore before its big debut on March 20. For him, the challenge was well worth it.
“I think the most exciting part is … some guys don’t want to touch old signs like that,” Stover said. “That’s part of being in the sign business, being able to take something back to its historical value, as close as you can get it.”
Like Stover, Phillips also remembered seeing the monkeys climb the sign as a kid when her family would travel from Farmland to Muncie to go to Wise Supermarket.
“You would drive past and see the monkey going up, and it was cool,” Phillips said. “It’s costing (Engle) a pretty penny to refurbish that sign, but it’s worth it, because it’s a Muncie icon.”
On Saturday evening, a large crowd stood outside the Oasis to watch the sign come back to life. At the end of a countdown, the neon colors reappeared and the monkeys were once again scaling the sign’s palm tree.
For Polston, the community support that evening meant everything, and he was proud to save a little piece of Muncie history.
“It really means a lot when you can take something, revive it, make it new again and still save the traditional effect of it,” Polston said.
The motto of the bar has long been, “The Oasis, where friends meet.”
As Engle shows Muncie the new Oasis, she hopes to continue that, along with creating a safe space for socializing and making friends.
“Come out, try our new menu items. We look at this place as being a family. Meet and greet people again and come together as a community. Right now, the diversity that’s going on in our world, it’s extreme,” Engle said. “One of my main things with this is to try and people together again and just realize we’re all here to do the same thing; live life, make a living and bring people close.”
To give back to the community, Polston added that Oasis will be hosting a motorcycle event every Tuesday evening, with a benefit ride or auction happening.
Whether it be someone who has fallen on hard times, become ill, had damage to their home or find themselves in need for other reasons, they can contact Polston at 765-465-5781 or Oasis at 765-282-8326 to schedule an event.
“You wouldn’t believe the (number) of people that have told me, ‘This is where my grandpa used to come in eat dinner or relax a bit after work,’ ” Polston said. “It really means a lot. We really want the community to back us, and we will definitely back the community in any way we can.”
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Source: The Star Press
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