The Day the Jug Died in Delaware Ohio

It has been several days since the news broke that one of Delaware’s most notable landmarks was being closed to make room for a regional chain restaurant.

The shock hit at first, then the pain, then the frustration, and now the lament for a city’s innocence lost.

Bad New on the doorstep, I couldn’t take one more step.
I can’t remember if I cried when I read about his widow bride.
but something touched me deep inside the day the music died.

The music being Delaware’s innocence and local shops. As the Kohls store on the city’s east side nears completion and the entire project looks more like something that should be sitting in Polaris than Delaware, it seemed that downtown was immune. We could get a good local cup of coffee at Trotter’s Coffee Company, grab lunch at Bun’s, Jug, Nova, Hamburger Inn, or even Gulla Lunch Stand.

However, it was always THE Jug that stood out. Maybe it was the longevity – 62 years – or being named after our famous horse race. Or all the above. Generations of Delaware residents, Ohio Wesleyan students, and tourists made the restaurant their home away from home for at least a night. And the waitstaff always made you feel welcome and the Hamburger Soup was the best “heart attack soup” in the world.

I can’t fault long-time owners Bill Stroud and Ed Wolf for their decision, hell I would have done the same thing. Run a business for 31 years and someone comes “knocking” on your door. You have to listen. Do I wish they’d been able to tell their employees? Of course.

But, I feel most for the loss of our downtown flagship. We lost the “real” Bun’s in the fire and now with the Jug being converted to a Hoggie’s our downtown anchors are gone.

And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.

Of course we will survive, we always have. We’ve gotten through …

• Wal-Mart
• Polaris
• Columbus creeping closer and closer

We’ll get through this. It is the nature of small-town mom and pop businesses.

Sitting at Trotter’s Coffee Company on Wednesday, the conversation was for an icon lost. A generation will always long for “the olden days” with McClellans and the Jug. But, we – as a community – need to make sure that future generations have landmarks to rember the “olden days” in.

Video is property of NBC and “Imus in the Morning”

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