Black Sheep owners to close Alpena pub, lease downtown building
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ALPENA - After nearly 16 years behind the bar at The Black Sheep, Paul and Kris Conger are closing their downtown English-style pub at the end of September and leasing the building to Tara Brilinski, owner of Rosa's Lookout Inn in Spruce.
The couple said they are not being forced out. They want to retire.
"It's a good thing for Paul and me," Kris Conger said in a Facebook video announcing the change.
She said they feel for their employees, love the people they have come to know, and simply cannot keep the pace. They have been at it "almost 16 years," she said, and now want to put family first as grandparents.
The pub, at 113 S. 2nd Ave., will operate on limited hours until it closes. The last day will be Sept. 30, and there "will be a party," she said.
The Congers said they had talked about stepping away off and on for some time. A grinding year made the decision final.
"We have been talking about it off and on for a while. After a very busy summer we just can't do it anymore," Kris Conger said.
Paul Conger said his wife had wanted to retire "a while ago." What changed his mind was the ice storm and flooding that hit the area this spring. Kris Conger had just had knee surgery, he said, and the room where she was supposed to recover was destroyed.
"I was in there hauling buckets of water out at night and then coming into the Black Sheep every day," he said.
That combination (moving pumps, clearing water, and still opening the pub) is what led him to tell her, "Okay, it's time."
"Our lives have been put on hold because of the Black Sheep, and we don't mean that in a bad way. We love the Black Sheep, and we know what we signed up for opening a bar," Kris Conger said. "Our bodies are tired. Physically we are healthy, but we want to enjoy ourselves while we can."
They did not have a date circled on the calendar.
"We did not know exactly when this would happen. The combination of bad spring weather and a busy summer pushed us over the edge," she said.
The Congers are leasing the building, not selling the business as The Black Sheep. The name will change, Paul Conger said, and Brilinski will be free to make whatever changes she wants.
"We are just leasing the building out," he said.
The couple plans to stay in the area. They have a camper they want to fix up and a boat. They called themselves "summer people." They also have a 2-year-old grandson, and Paul Conger said he wants time to take him fishing.
Asked what retirement looks like, he kept it simple: "We just want a day off."
They said they are proud of what the pub meant to Alpena.
"I'm proud of the things we have helped with in the community. We helped bring music back into Alpena," Paul Conger said.
"We were the first place to bring a drag show into Alpena," Kris Conger said.
She said the regulars became a kind of family, and that none of them "ever had anything bad to say about anyone else."
"We really appreciate the customers, the friends and the people we have met along the way. In the past 16 years our family has grown, there has been celebrations, times of mourning, and we are proud of belonging to this community," she said.
They are asking old customers and new ones to come in before the doors close, talk, and share stories.
"Hopefully they get a chance to come in one last time," Paul Conger said.
"Come and hang out with us, we are going to close it out with a bang," Kris Conger said. "We will see you on the other side of the bar."
She framed the change as part of downtown's next chapter.
"It's time for a change; the Black Sheep has run its course. I think we need to welcome change in Alpena and support those efforts," she said.
Josh Jambor can be reached at jjambor@thealpenanews.com.