When the weather is warm and the rain holds off, Dot's Tavern in Basco expands to an outdoor setting with a beer garden, music stage and food truck. The bar, in the basement of a farmhouse in southern Dane County, has been owned by one family since 1948.
Lyla Kubly takes a food order from brothers Isaiah and Seb Gopin on a recent Wednesday night when gyros were the nightly special at Dot's Tavern.
Audrey Rear, 86, left, Dot’s daughter who grew up in the house with Dot’s Tavern in the basement, wasn't pleased when her parents bought the bar in 1948. On a recent Wednesday, 76 years later, she laughed as she shared stories with her daughter, Kari Ace.
Photographs of Dot Northwick, left, who purchased Dot’s Tavern with her husband, Art, in 1948, and Dot’s daughter, Shirley Kelliher, who took over the bar after Dot died in 1995, are on display in the basement tavern. The Basco Bologna Bash was a fundraiser and drew more than 100 people to the community.
While Dot's Tavern now has an outdoor beer garden, music stage and food truck, Kari Ace says the basement bar remains largely the same since a remodel in 1969. Her grandparents bought the place in 1948 and lived upstairs.
BASCO — For those over 6 feet tall, the ceiling still causes a crane of the neck — for some a full-on duck.
Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by email at badams@madison.com.
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Established in 1894, the store was a throwback that offered up tools, bacon, cans of soup and frozen pizzas but also doubled as a tavern.
When the weather is warm and the rain holds off, Dot's Tavern in Basco expands to an outdoor setting with a beer garden, music stage and food truck. The bar, in the basement of a farmhouse in southern Dane County, has been owned by one family since 1948.
Audrey Rear, 86, left, Dot’s daughter who grew up in the house with Dot’s Tavern in the basement, wasn't pleased when her parents bought the bar in 1948. On a recent Wednesday, 76 years later, she laughed as she shared stories with her daughter, Kari Ace.
Photographs of Dot Northwick, left, who purchased Dot’s Tavern with her husband, Art, in 1948, and Dot’s daughter, Shirley Kelliher, who took over the bar after Dot died in 1995, are on display in the basement tavern. The Basco Bologna Bash was a fundraiser and drew more than 100 people to the community.
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