Family sees 32 years running Tip-It Bar

After 32 years, The Tip-It Bar is rounding out it's last generation.

"Hopefully in a couple years we can come in here and have a beer and just visit," Tip-It Owner Teresa Roberts said.

She said that her parents, John, now deceased, and Lorraine Trulson, purchased The Tip-It from Bob Larson in 1987. She was 27 at the time and was working at Buttrey's, which later was bought by Albertson's. When they first bought the bar it had only two poker machines and café booths, it also did not have any horseshoe pits - just a pile of dirt and old junk cars. She added that when her parents bought the bar, it also only had a beer and wine license and could not serve liquor.

She added that in 1994, her mother was able to get the bar a liquor license.

Roberts said that her family originally lived in Kremlin, moving to Havre in 1985. She moved had to Havre a few years before, in 1979, after graduating from Kremlin-Gildford High School.

Before buying the bar, her parents both worked for the Great Northern, later Burlington Northern and now BNSF, Railway. her dad worked 33 years as a track inspector and her mother worked for the railroad for 15 years. She said that they bought the bar as a kind of retirement job.

"My dad loved bartending," she said. "He bartended every day."

Her dad usually worked the morning shift, and in the late 1980s and 1990s many of the bars were closed on Sundays, but The Tip-It was open, she said. She added that her dad had Sunday regulars who he enjoyed serving.

He was a jokester, she said. He could tell jokes from the time he got in, to the time he left and never say the same joke twice. She said that she is not as good with jokes as he was, but remembers both of her parents being really good, hard-working people, which she learned a lot from.

"It takes hard work to make where you want to be, you know, you have to work really hard to make it work," she said.

She said she started bartending in 1990, her dad calling her asking her to fill in for him as he took his "union breaks," which were four-hour breaks.

"They loved this place," Roberts said.

In 1992 her dad died and in 1999 her mother had a stroke, she said. After Albertson's closed in 2008, she began working on purchasing the bar from her sisters and in 2011 bought her sisters', Cindy Lee and Lindy Scofield, shares in the business.

"We have totally turned the bar around," she said.

In the '90s John Roberts, Teresa Roberts' husband and co-owner, helped put in two horseshoe pits, which grew to six and grew more until they had 14.

John Roberts, who is also in charge of the horseshoe league, said that The Tip-It has hosted the state tournament twice.

Teresa Roberts added that league starts in May and is every Thursday and ends mid-August.

The bar has also grown over the years. Her father expanded the building in the '90s and moved the bar to the opposite wall, she said. The addition to the building made room for the bar to host other activities such as karaoke and live musical performances. She added that they have focused harder on live music in the last four years, and The Tip-It is one of the few places in town to have regular live musical performances.

One of her favorite memories at the bar is her wedding, she said. Dec. 31, 2002, she and John Roberts were married inside of the bar, with one side of it set up as the chapel and the other side set up for New Year's celebrations. She added that it was a double wedding with Hugh and Earlene DeWinter.

"It was really pretty," she said. "They had it really decorated nice."

Some of the changes that they have seen over the years in the bar industry has been an increase in laws regarding bars and casinos, as well as when the state made it illegal to smoke indoors.

John Roberts said that when the Montana Clean Air Act passed they saw a decline in customers, but people eventually got used to the change. He added that The Tip-It has also been hosting the start of the Wounded Warrior Ride for the past three years.

Teresa Roberts said that the bar also will be hosting the Burning Bike event July 6 for Montana K-9 care. She said that since they have taken ownership of the bar, The Tip-It has become more involved in community organizations.

She said that she is the bartending side of the business and her husband does the accounting and manages the books.

John Roberts said his favorite part about the bar business is the people.

"It's nice to meet different kinds of people," he said. "You have to learn to be 'us' people."

He added that operating the bar is a lot of hard work, managing everything and assuring the business is running smoothly. He said that he and his wife are getting older, both of them turning 60 within the next few years, and in a couple of years they would like to put The Tip-It up for sale. Roberts said that he would like to sell the business, their properties and purchase a large motorhome.

Some people have made offers and expressed an interest in purchasing the bar, including one of their bartenders, he added.

Teresa Roberts said that it will be hard leaving her customers but it is time for a change.

"We've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in here, but when it's time to move on, it's time," she said.

She added that she and her husband have a son, Jason Echelard, 39, but after he herniated a lumbar disk is unable to take on the family business.

"He is so fun," she said. "He would have been a great bartender."

She said that it would be nice to have a family member take over the business, but if they can't, they can't.

Roberts added that the success of the bar can also go to their staff.

"We have an excellent staff," she said.

The Tip-It does not have a high turnover - most people enjoy working there, she said.

KayCee Belcourt is the longest standing employee, Roberts said, first working for them in the '90s. Roberts added that she is one of the people who expressed interest in taking over the bar after she and her husband retire.

"Our employees do an excellent job, they do, I mean hats off to our employees," she said. "They work well together and they do a fine job."