Balefire Story

Everybody asks "What's the story behind the name?" Well the short version of the story is that a balefire is a beacon fire. What we are trying to do - put beer and wine on equal footing - seems simple, but yet we're the only bar that I can think of that is really doing it. Add to that that we are an outpost of good beer and wine (plus the only bottle shop) in the North End, and metaphorically we are a shining beacon of zymurgy.

A slightly longer version would be that in focus groups, this is the name women preferred. Since statistically women drink more wine than men do, we are trying hard to accomodate their demographic.

For the really long story of the fire theme go here: From Ashes to A Dream Fullfilled.

Either way, I've been wanting to build a bar like this simply because I can't go to a bar like this. The concept seems so simple: great beer and wine, and food matched to it in small bites so that you can have many beverages without breaking the bank or having to compromise on one bottle that will be equally inoffensive with each course. I also wanted a bar where you could read the menu without night vision goggles and listen to your friends over the stereo and TV. The last problem was easy to solve, we don't have a TV.

I'd been kicking the idea around with various false starts for 20 years. One day I mentioned it to Daron Showalter at a pick up soccer game, and the next morning I had a business plan in my email. I decided if he was willing to work that hard for free, and since I'd come into a little money from the fire, I'd employ him. That was in April. Over the next few months we got more serious, found a space with the help of Kenny Jordahl, and started to put things together. While we really wanted to put a bar on the Eastside, prices there are prohibitive for a first-time company, so we picked Everett because of the regentrification going on and the Event Center. If you've followed the changes in Renton you can see what we are hoping for.

The night we were doing our competitive analysis for the business plan, the current space became available. I remember sitting in this space when it first opened 5 years ago and saying to my date "I'd love to have a business plan in hand when this place goes out of business." Well it did and I did. We thus swithed from our original location to this location figuring it would take 4 months less to open it as the original location has not been occupied for nearly half a century and the Bistro Vino space should've been turn key. (It was not, but let's not go there.) This is also when we had to pick a new name, as the previous place was name-dependent. Besides, we have a second bar in the business plan and want to reserve the ability to go back to that space.

At any rate, my friends and I worked day and night for 6 weeks to get the place open on 11/22/08, coincidenlty my 2 lucky numbers, and we continue to improve it on a daily basis as we learn. Bear with us!