The Castle Cocktail Lounge: A Brass Bell for the Chesaning Showboat
- Jul 12
- 4 min read
Last week, The Castle Cocktail Lounge made its way all the way out to St. Charles for a dance at the Golden Glow, so we kept right on driving, heading south along M-52 until we came to a crossroad, a town with a Showboat, and a tasty bar/restaurant too…welcome to Chesaning…
A Village with a Showboat...
As the Great Depression lingered across the country, the Chesaning Showboat Festival materialized in 1937 as a way to bring crowds and an economic boost to the village of Chesaning, Michigan. Joy was a short commodity in the thirties, and the Showboat Festival Committee sought to go against the tide, believing in the popular moniker—if you build it, they will come. And for several decades, the festival did just this—bringing exciting shows like aerialists, ventriloquists, and comedians along with well-known musical acts such from the Jimmy Bennet Orchestra to Tennessee Ernie Ford and later the Beach Boys to mid-Michigan.*
The influx of tens of thousands of people each summer season, was a boon to several local businesses through the decades—and despite a few rough patches (no musical acts during WWII, smaller crowds some years, low water levels in the river, etc.) the Showboat chugged on as Chesaning’s ticket to prosperity. It was amidst this success that Ed Rupple decided he’d try his hand at running a local restaurant, and the Brass Bell was born.
Ringing in the Brass Bell...
Rupple, a Chesaning local, was a salesman for Roadway Express in Birch Run in the sixties, at which point he called upon his coworkers, friends, and family—and together, they staffed the Brass Bell (12950 W. Brady) for several years as the restaurant got off the ground, beginning in 1965. As the story goes, Rupple had applied for a liquor license and when the State granted his application sooner than expected, he hit the ground running and opened the doors of the Brass Bell to throngs of hungry townsfolk, and soon, Showboaters.
Initially touting meats they processed themselves and classic family dining fare, the Brass Bell quickly became a staple at the corner of M-57 and M-52. Through the decades, the restaurant became the go-to location for birthdays, anniversaries, receptions, local bean commission and 4-H meetings, and even seminars and talks.
In 1978, Leo and Mary Birchmeier along with their partner, Joe Besaw, bought the Brass Bell and expanded dining options—now advertising an all-you-can-eat salad bar with 30 items and desserts. This included the restaurant’s famous Liver Paste (a recipe for another time—and another Castle Test Kitchen adventure). According to The Saginaw News, “In addition to a variety of salads and vegetable dishes, the Brass Bell’s salad bar also features a fudge fondue for dipping fresh fruit.” (March 17, 1981). The facility was also expanded, with seating capacity going from 100 to more than 350 people with several added banquet rooms. Finally, by the 1980s, the Brass Bell Motel, next door, was advertised along with the restaurant as the enterprise morphed into a full-fledged conference center. The facility remained family-owned and operated for several more decades under the Birchmeier clan.
“Having raised a family of seven children, the Birchmeiers know how to serve a meal family style and have made that the trademark at the Brass Bell. It is a family business with several of the children among the 70 employees working the restaurant…” (The Saginaw News, March 17, 1981).
Jack Birchmeier and his sister Lori ran the restaurant and inn until 2002. In the late 1990s, this Castle Cocktail Lounge patron remembers the Brass Bell as the place to go for homecoming and prom—dining in the dimly-lit, Nixonian-era dining room on more than one bedazzled high school occasion.
Unfortunately, by the 2000s, the proverbial ship had sailed for the Brass Bell—and the Chesaning Showboat—for that matter. While the restaurant was remodeled and reopened by James and Mark Stechschulte of Owosso in December of 2003, it would be closed and sold a number of times over the next two decades, never quite regaining the family-owned glory it once held with its “famous salad bar” and all-occasion banquet rooms. In addition, the Showboat experienced a final downturn in 2013, ending the more than 75-year run of the Showboat Festival—and with it, the crowds of showboaters who would spend their money at places like the Brass Bell. Today, the restaurant and adjoining motel remain closed.
Time for a Drink--The Show Boat
In honor of the Chesaning Showboat Festival—and celebratory occasions as would be had at the Brass Bell, we offer up, the “Show Boat.”
Show Boat
½ gin
¼ orange juice
¼ lemon juice
The white of 1 egg
Dash of grenadine
Shake.
That’s the original recipe.
A modern bartender translated it this way:
2 oz. gin
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. lemon juice
1 egg white
Dash of grenadine
Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.
There is apparently a bartending argument about whether or not to shake with ice when using an egg white. Some say the foam is better without ice, but this bartender produced good foam with ice. So, it’s up to you on how chilled you want your drink.
Castle Cocktail Lounge Tasting Notes:
"Too sour for me."
For more Chesaning history, be sure to visit our museum partner, Chesaning Area Historical Society.
*For more on the Showboat’s past musical acts, check out this Argus Press article, and for more on the Showboat itself, check out our recent #ArtifactSat post.
