Blue Moon celebrates 35 years in business

By HEIDI DESCH

Hungry Horse News

For 35 years, Dick and Charlotte Sapa have called the Blue Moon Bar and Grille their home.

And its customers their friends. The couple can hardly sit at the bar for a few minutes without someone yelling out hello to Dick, 64, or stopping to hug Charlotte, 65.

It wasn't always the case, when they first bought the bar that sits at the corner of U.S. Highway 2 and Highway 40. The customers were few and far between back then. Charlotte tells of winter days when the wind would blowing open the door would raise the excitement at the prospect of a customer. Or when she'd serve the bar's sole customer, while Dick played pinball with the same customer.

On a recent afternoon it was much the opposite. Customers began filling the length of the bar by 5 p.m.

"We've had a very good business and we're very thankful," Charlotte said.

It's been a long road to that bar of today. One that started with the Sapas' first visit to Columbia Falls from Minnesota to purchase the bar in 1972. They looked at it once and bought it.

Dick wanted to hunt and fish and run a bar. He had performed with his own band and wanted the same opportunity in the new town.

Charlotte wasn't so sure.

"Dick said, 'They don't have any tornados or mosquitos,'" she said. "I sat down and cried the first time I saw it and said, 'I don't like the looks of this place.' He said 'anything can be fixed up.'"

Charlotte was new to the concept, "hardly have ever been in a bar before." Dick had played with his band in bars numerous times.

It wasn't long before Charlotte found herself tending bar during the daytime, feeding the children and putting them to bed, then returning to tend bar. Then after the customers left she and Dick would clean the bar. She hired and trained all the bartenders and waitresses herself.

While Charlotte tended bar, Dick played in the band three or four nights a week. For the first three years they didn't have a janitor.

"I used to multitask before they called it that," Charlotte said.

Living quarters on site

For several years the family had living quarters in the back of the bar. A kitchen, laundry, bedrooms and office, which was used to run the bar. Dick has always done the bookkeeping, which he continues to do today — in long-hand.

"It's life," Charlotte said. "You raise your family and make sure they're taken care of. Our parents worked hard and that's how they raised us, but it's fun. It gives you a life — a reason and a purpose to get up in the morning."

Today, Dick and Charlotte have a separate house, but the grandchildren are often found in those same rooms — napping or playing.

A lot has changed in 35 years.

When the Sapas first arrived on U.S. Highway 2, which runs in front of the Blue Moon was a gravel two-lane road, there was no stop light.

But what the Sapas say, without even pausing to think, has changed the most is the people.

"There's not as many working people," Dick said. "It's all tourists. There's not as many blue collar workers. They're a dying breed."

Charlotte enjoys the greater mix of people that come into the bar.

"There's all walks of life that come in," she said. "There's multi-millionaires, Canadian, golfers, skiers, bikers and cowboys."

The customers don't drink as much as they used to either. DUI laws have tightened up, but the Sapas don't much want drunk drivers out on the road either. They often call customers a cab or give them a ride home.

Move to diversify

But the change has forced them to shift the business. Now, customers spend more money on gambling.

"When they made gambling legal that saved us from the real strict DUI laws," Dick said.

He said there was a time when stricter laws in the mid-80s and influence from anti-drinking and driving groups made it difficult.

That's when they diversified. They added karaoke and dance lessons. They added the restaurant. Seven years ago they added a rodeo arena behind the building.

But in the end it's all about the customer. Dick said if a regular customer comes in and says he likes a certain kind of whiskey then they'll stock it.

"It's about the personal touch," he said.

Adding the restaurant helped to diversify, but it was also once again about the customer.

"It's important for people to have food if they want to with their cocktail," Charlotte said. "When you have the restaurant you give them a choice. You give the customer everything they want."

Over the years, the Blue Moon has become known for the benefits held there. Often for baseball or other sports teams or school groups.

Their son, Jimmy, was killed in a car accident while in high school. His dream was to be a professional baseball player and so the Sapas have always had an affection for baseball.

The Sapa/Johnsrud baseball complex in named for their son.

Charlotte said losing their own son has given them an extra want to help others and, in particular, children. The first was for the North Valley Search and Rescue.

Charlotte recalled that a pig was auctioned at the first event. A pig that Dick ended up buying by himself after some friends stuck him with the winning bid.

So, they raised the pig and the next year started another Blue Moon tradition — an annual memorial day barbecue they've held for 23 years.

Today, the Sapas' two children, Charlene and Billy, along with their families, manage the bar and restaurant. But Dick and Charlotte are there every day. And they don't plan to stop anytime soon.

"This is my world," Charlotte said.