By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
A Salina icon is closing its doors for the final time in mid-June.
On Monday, Tracy and Peggy Hawk announced on Facebook that Maggie Mae's Bar & Grill would close permanently on June 14.
"It's time," Tracy told Salina Post.
"Time to turn the page," Peggy added.
It's a family thing
Maggie Mae's has had a long history on the corner of S. Broadway Boulevard and W. South Street.
"My family, my grandfather and father, took over the building in 1981," Tracy said.
Prior to that, the bar had been Daisy Mae's, which had a reputation of being a biker bar. Tracy said his father, Mike, had wanted the bar to be a country bar, so he renamed it Bar X. However, he couldn't keep the bikers out and he couldn't get enough country music lovers to frequent the bar.
In 1991, Mike closed Bar X, formed a corporation Maggie Mae's, Inc., and opened Maggie Mae's Bar & Grill.
Contrary to what some people believed, changing the name of the bar to Maggie Mae's was not connected to Rod Stewart's 1971 hit Maggie May. Rather, the bar was partially named in honor of Mike's quarter horse, "Maggie," and as a tribute to the bar's former self, Daisy Mae's, Tracy said.
Tracy has been a part of the Maggie Mae's operation since his father died in 2002. Since then, he has seen a lot.
"I've had a very sizeable education," he said.
For Tracy, Maggie Mae's is a reminder of his family.
"Whenever I get to that building, period, walking inside, I think about my dad. I think about him. I think about my grandfather," he said.
Tracy also credits Maggie Mae's for his wife, Peggy.
"Although I did know Peggy before, a little, we definitely got reacquainted and we wound up getting together and getting married," Tracy said.
"So one of the fond things he remembers is meeting his wife," Peggy quipped.
Tracy also told of a conversation he recently had with his son about Maggie Mae's closing.
The conversation was revealing in that Tracy's son told his father that he got his work ethic from all the times Tracy had to go in and help cook because Maggie Mae's was so busy. While Tracy was cooking, his son stayed in the office because he was too young to be out in the bar area.
"He said, 'That's where I get my work ethic. I go to work and it's not an inconvenience. It's a joy.' He said, 'I understand what you did allowed us to do other things. It allowed us to go on vacations and to be able to buy things and do things. But we never worried whether there was a roof over our head and those kind of things,'" Tracy said.
"He said, 'I understand now, watching you doing what you did, I understand,'" Tracy continued. "And needless to say, that's a big one for one of the things that absolutely fulfills my life."
About the people
Whether it has been customers, employees, or those they have helped, the Hawks have touched a lot of lives over the years, and they have welcomed people from all walks of life to Maggie Mae's.
"I've had some really exceptional people work for me over the years. People that have left an impression on me for the rest of my life," Tracy said.
He continued, "We, collectively, have done some incredible things. Some of my customers, I'm going to say 95 percent of my customers, are fantastic people. Unfortunately, there's always a bad apple in the bunch, but with those good people that a lot of society looks down on, we collectively raised over half a million dollars."
The funds were raised over 16-17 years and were given to several local charities.
"Sixteen to 17 years, raising over half a million dollars is huge," Tracy said. "And I think about it and it's like, wait a minute, yes, I did a lot of things, but I can only create the monster. It took everybody else. It took my staff. It took volunteers. It took the customers. It took everybody to be able to put all of that together. And we really did have a good time."
The Hawks also talked about increasing the respectibility of Maggie Mae's, which years ago had a reputation for fights and, in some cases, drug sales.
"I'm not going to say that there isn't still some bad element, but, for the most part, most all of that is gone," Tracy said.
"It took a lot of work. We had to kick people out. We never called the police though, unless it got really bad. The bartenders and the cooks, we all handled it," Peggy explained. "We're like, we're not going to have that in here. You're out 30 days. The next time, if it was the same person, you're out 60 days. I think there's a handful of people that are out for life because of being repeat offenders. We started enforcing it and word got out."
She continued, "Women will come in. They feel comfortable sitting there because if a guy starts bothering them, we're like 'Hey! Move on. They're not interested. Leave them alone. They're here to have a drink just like anybody else.' It's just a nice, safe, comfortable place to go eat and drink and have a good time."
What's next?
So once Maggie Mae's closes June 14, what's next for the Hawks?
"We're just going to be average people that don't own a bar any more. He's going to work full time for FedEx and I'm going to continue to drive a CityGo bus, and when we have vacation time, we're going to travel," Peggy said.
. . .
Peggy said they plan to have a party on June 10, a Saturday, so that people who work can come and help celebrate the legacy that is Maggie Mae's. Watch the Maggie Mae's Bar & Grill Facebook page for details about the party.