New faces at Gills Landing

WEYAUWEGA – She calls them Weyauwegians. What’s with these people? Why are they so friendly, so helpful? All those people that stopped by to help over the past months. They poured cement and laid rock, painted walls and power-washed deck boards.
These Weyauwegians, these strangers that stopped by and asked if they needed a hand, it’s as if they emerged from the wooded river bottoms looking for something to do.
Weyauwegians. That’s the name Brenda Biese came up with as she and her family spent the past months renovating the estimated 150-year-old tavern at Gills Landing, a historic waypoint along the Wolf River. County Trunk F dead-ends here at a boat-launch parking lot.
“I can’t express this enough but without the community help this would not have happened and come to fruition,” said her husband Al Biese on the first day of reopening the bar and grill that is now renamed as Gills on the Wolf.
In the winter, snowmobilers rode up and cupped their hands at the window and mimed bottoms-up hand gestures to get a drink: Sorry, we’re closed.

When the ice broke on the river and the walleyes were running, anglers pounded on the door, thirty for cold brew: Sorry, we’re closed.
When the legendary white bass run was underway, anglers motored up to the seawall next to the tavern with the expectation to wet their whistle: Sorry, we’re closed.
It seemed that it was in everybody’s best interest to get this landmark tavern and marina on the Wolf River back open as quickly as possible. It had to be that way. The tavern has been there since the days of the last log drives. It was there when Al Capone is reported to have skulked around and patronized a riverside brothel. It’s served generations of anglers. To not have it open would be unthinkable.
“We had to turn away a hundred boats. One guy said, ‘Wow, it looks like you guys need some help. Do you want me to come back and help you?’ I don’t even know the man,” said Brenda Biese.

Quest for a cottage

The mission: find a cottage on the Wolf River to use as a weekend family retreat. Al and Brenda Biese raised their two daughters, Alexa and Valyssa, in Appleton. Alexa married Sean Meyers and Valyssa married Luke Holschbacker and now there are four grandkids.
“My grandfather was a log runner a hundred years ago and he fell in love with the Wolf. He brought his family here and my dad and his brother ran an ice-cutting business in the Shiocton area. When I was little, my dad bought a fishing shack on the Wolf with a friend,” said Brenda.
Her father took her on outings on the Wolf River and later when she married Al, they bought a boat and explored the Wolf with their two daughters who also grew to love the Wolf. Years later, the two son-in-laws also joined them on their jaunts on the river.
A few years ago the family rented a cottage on Lake Poygan for seven days. They spent every day on the water and they came to the conclusion that they should buy a cottage on the river. They came across a fixer-upper and everybody wanted it but they were outbid at the last moment. After that sting, they kept looking while cruising on their pontoon.
Two years later they were still empty handed. One of the daughters learned that the tavern at Gills Landing was for sale. They made an appointment to go look at it. The dam in Manawa broke the day before when they arrived. The place was swamped and water was lapping at the patio deck.
“I just laughed. We’re just looking at this and going home, right?” said Brenda getting teary eyed. “We are so happy we saved this girl because she would have died. She’s a beautiful building. It’s an icon. ‘People say, ‘I had my first beer there with my grandpa.’ Every day I learn something cool about this place.”
They spent months cleaning and painting. The building was also once a hotel and the upstairs is subdivided into rooms. They fixed that up and it serves as their family retreat and a place to rest as various family members pitch in with this new venture.
“I retired last year and now I signed up for 12 to 14 hour days, kicking around and trying to make this a nice place,” said Al Biese, laughing from behind the outdoor bar.
They host a Friday fish fry and their menu is what one would expect from a north-woods bar: sandwiches, wings, appetizers, burgers and pizza. They hired seven bartenders and three cooks. They will need the help. During their grand opening on Friday, May 30, the parking lot was packed and people kept walking in. It wasn’t even noon yet.
They are open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.