Yellowknife's music scene came together Friday night at The Cellar Bar and Grill to wish long-time owner Dale Bardeau one last farewell.Priscilla's Revenge opened the evening in front of a packed house of Cellar regulars as Bardeau spent one last evening behind the bar. Bardeau first moved to Yellowknife 20 years ago from the
East Coast and quickly established himself within the city's restaurant scene.
Bardeau first started at a bar in town called the Unicorn before working stints at The Black Knight and the now closed Gallery and Cave club.
Alan Davidson a regular at a number of Bardeau's establishments throughout the years spent the evening wishing Bardeau good luck on his newest life journey in Winnipeg.
"I've been coming here since Dale opened this place," said Davidson, over top of the live music that was on hand.
"We're all happy for Dale moving on, everybody moves on, I gotta say when he started this place, he brought it up to a certain level. He did so much for this place."
One of those things that Bardeau did was host a number of live music nights, including a full year of open mic and open jam nights for amateur musicians as well as providing a venue for more established artists in the city such as Mel Leonard and Priscilla's Revenge to perform at.
"For years Dale has been the best supporter of live music here in YK," states a post on Priscilla's Revenge Facebook page. "We love Dale and want to thank him for everything he's done for the music scene here in YK."
On top of the live music scene, Bardeau quickly made sure that the cellar was known for it's food and beverage scene as well, offering rib nights on Wednesday, a unique twist to the classic Wing
Wednesday that many other establishments in town offer.
"He brought in a great food menu with reasonable prices and good service, a place that people could come to and enjoy," said Davidson, "We hope that whoever takes this place over will continue what he started. Make it their own but also understand what this place means to Yellowknife."
As for the new owners of the bar, Bardeau told Yellowknifer the plan is to keep everything the exact same from the promotions to the service and the food, with only a few alterations.
Bardeau says that he is keeping the rights to his veggie burger and his hot sauce and bringing those down south with him.
Bardeau expects The Cellar to be closed for a few weeks while the new owners take over, but for the operation to be back up and running again by July.