American Legion bars close as membership dwindles

The American Legion bar in downtown Bemidji will serve its last beer on New Year's Eve.

After 40 years at its location, Post No. 14 commander Bob Aitken said the business just couldn't stay afloat. The post sold the building recently to Bar 209, another downtown watering hole, and ran out the clock on their 2014 liquor license.

"Times have changed," Aitken said. "Membership has dwindled, and the members we do have don't drink that much anymore."

Minnesota American Legion communications director Al Zdon said losing Bemidji's Legion bar is a symptom of a larger problem.

"Statewide and nationwide, the American Legion is in a state of decline," he said.

American Legion membership in Minnesota has dropped from 127,000 to 83,000 over the last 20 years. Most members served in the Korean War and Vietnam. Younger veterans who served their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't signing up, Zdon said. And when post membership falls, Legion bars are the first things to go.

Zdon doesn't have exact figures on how many bars have closed since the bars are run by individual posts. He estimates roughly 100 bars closed around Minnesota in the last 10 years.

While some suffered from mismanagement, most were dragged under by shrinking post membership, he said.

Post No. 14 had both problems according to bar manager Diane Lewis, who worked at the bar for 20 years, the last two as manager.

After payroll this year, she said the whole business only made $5,000.

A few nights before closing, the bar opened at 3 p.m. An hour later, Joe and Joan Forbes were the only people there. Another group came in to buy pull-tabs, but the pull-tabs were sold out — so the people left.

Joe Forbes, a Korean War veteran and a long-time American Legion member, said losing the bar is a shame, but not a big surprise.

When Forbes got out of the service 50 years ago, the first thing he did was join the Masons. He went on to join the Lions Club, the American Legion, the Elks, the Eagles and the local Presbyterian Church. Many of his friends did too. They're from a generation of joiners, said Forbes.

In the last 15 years, post commander Aitken said Legion Post No. 14 dropped from 1,500 members to just 400. Only 15 members show up for meetings.

Forbes said many of his other clubs are in a similar spot.

"Young people watched their parents spend all this time in organizations," he said, "and they don't want any part of it."

His own children are too busy with careers to join the Elks, or the Masons. He figures young veterans aren't unique in their reluctance to join the American Legion. Rather, he said they're just part of an entire generation of non-joiners.