Food+Drink

Happy Hollow Plans for Big Outdoor Expansion

Matt Ledger |

With the statewide smoking ban sending smoking in bars the way of the dodo this July, many bar owners outside of Eau Claire are legitimately concerned with the loss of business they foresee this summer. Judi and Dan Malone of Happy Hollow Tavern, who gained customers when Eau Claire’s ban went into effect, are doing something about it. Their answer to the problem is simple: build a 768 square foot open-air addition to accommodate their smoking patrons. The addition would still be covered and surrounded by three-foot walls, and the walls will be topped by either screens or windows depending on the state’s final definition of an enclosed area. The Altoona Plan Commission recently OK’d the expansion, so smokers can look forward to one last bastion of simultaneous puffing and drinking this summer.