How Tim Barr got Art’s liquor license

From staff reports

Art’s Tavern in the heart of Glen Arbor celebrates 90 years this year. Tim Barr (who tourists often confuse with “Art”) bought Art’s from Mike Wiesen on July 17, 2000—smack dab in the busy summer season. He couldn’t afford to wait an extra day, or week, for the liquor license to transfer names, so Tim—together with Tom Reay, a long-time Art’s bartender who had just opened Trattoria Funistrada restaurant in Burdickville—chartered a plane from Traverse City to Lansing to sign the paperwork late in the afternoon at the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. They flew home and returned to Glen Arbor, where Art’s was packed. “Being my own boss was the number 1 priority,” recalled Tim.