GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Burkel's Bar & Grill, in the shadow of Lambeau Field, will be closing following the last game of the Green Bay Packers season.
Saturday night, during what turned out to be the team's final home game of the season, NBC 26 spent the night at the bar to learn what makes it so special to its customers.
- Video shows a family-owned bar by Lambeau Field going through perhaps their final Packers home game before closing their business.
- There may not be anywhere in town that can compete with the Packers memorabilia on display at Burkel's Bar & Grill, but fans will only have a couple more weeks to enjoy it before they close their doors for good.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
A place of Packers past and present glory, Burkel's Bar & Grill has been a local family business since Kevin Burkel took ownership in 2013 and his daughter Emily joined as manager two years later.
"I get a lot of 'I know your dad'. Your last name is out there, there's not a whole lot you can do about it but it's been great. It's been great," Emily Burkel, the manager of the bar, said.
"He [Kevin] does a lot of good for the community, we do a lot of good for the community through Burkel's so I mean having your last name on the sign is not a bad thing."
But after decades in the business and an ever evolving landscape around Lambeau, Kevin says his time has come.
"Well the big thing is my age, my years in the business. I've been doing it for 45 years. I've had a lot of bars and restaurants thorough the last 45 years. Football, to me it's not a sport anymore it's a business. You get to the point where it doesn't make sense anymore," said Kevin.
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While customers say Burkel's will be missed, so will the bar's work in the community between donating Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and other fundraising initiatives.
"He's just done so many great things for the community so many things that are going to go unnoticed and I just want that to be noticed to the community especially because he's done some really great things," said longtime customer Glenn Urban.
"I have so much fun with customers and people. That's the part that's going to be missed, but the day-to-day operations I'm not going to miss," said Kevin while chuckling.
While there's no exact closing date yet, Burkel's will be open through the rest of the Packers season, so the deeper their playoff run, the longer fans will get to make final memories here surrounded by history.
