Courtesy Photo Melissa Cadarette Gapske pours a beer while at work at the Maplewood Tavern in Alpena. The bar is celebrating its 100th anniversary later this year.

ALPENA — Maplewood Tavern is known for the family who owns and operates it, as much as the drink and entertainment it offers.

The tavern was built in 1924, where it still stands today on the corner of French and Lacomb Roads in Alpena Township. Its reputation for music and customer service has expanded well beyond the borders of Alpena County.

Maplewood is also known for Clarise Grzenkowicz, recognized by the Guinness World Record for having the world’s longest continuous career as a bartender.

Now, a fourth generation of the family has taken over the business and the new owners intend on maintaining the important history of the bar, while adding some modern elements.

The tavern is now owned by Melissa Cadarette Gapske and her sister Marion Cadarette. The two women grew up with the tavern being a large part of their lives as it was operated by their great-grandparents and grandparents. Now it is their turn to run the family business and they don’t plan to change much.

Gapske said the tavern closed for a couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic and the two sisters began considering taking over operations of the old bar. Maplewood reopened in 2022, but it wasn’t until Friday that it had an official reopening because of the logistics of transferring the liquor license and other necessary hurdles that needed to be cleared.

Now that the tavern is reopened, Gapske and Cadarette have mixed the old and the new.

“We have kept all of the family artifacts because that is our history,” Gapske said. “We still have the vintage chairs and tables and that vintage feel.”

Parts of the bar have undergone some change, Gapske said. The stage area where live bands play has been reworked and there are more televisions for people to watch their favorite baseball or football game. Keno will also be added.

Gapske said the bar is also offering a menu so people can drop in for a bite to eat and a cold cocktail and on the weekend, enjoy some live music. She said the bar is going to diversify the types of music that will be played to be more attractive to more people.

Later this summer, the bar will celebrate its 100th anniversary and more details about a weekend celebration for the historic event will come in the future.

In the meantime, Andy Perron and the Show Buds will perform tonight from 7 to 11 p.m.