A mixture of good-looking college kids and middle-aged Eugene residents filled the inside of Joggers Bar and Grill on Saturday night, mingling around a busy bar, pool tables and a dance floor colored by beams of fluorescent light. The bar is a small, yet accommodating and friendly place to go for off-campus partying.
“No one feels out of place here,” bartender Chad J. Barker said. “It’s not like a hipster bar; it’s just a good old place.”
Music at Joggers is appealing and easy to dance to — on Saturday, people got down to Ciara and Prince. An array of drink specials are available during the week. The bar offers
$1 beers on Wednesdays, $6.50 domestic beer pitchers and $8.50 microbrew pitchers on Thursdays, and buy one, get one free Sex on the Beach drinks and Long Island Iced Teas on Saturdays. Guests can order from the venue’s full menu until around
12:30 a.m., with choices that bartender Reed Whorton describes as standard bar food.
Whorton and Barker emphasized Joggers’ “chill” factor. Whorton said he usually sees an eclectic mix of people, including lots of college students by night and local business people such as lawyers by day. Barker said he feels a relaxed vibe and has noticed some cool regulars in the bar.
“We’re known for our cheap drinks,” Barker said. “People will come out here and pre-funk. It’s a good mix of an older and younger crowd, like how Mac’s at the Vet’s Club used to be, where the old and the young would hang out together.”
He said that Rockin’ Rodeo, a night spot across the street from Joggers that closed a year ago, added lots of activity to the bar. Rockin’ Rodeo will re-open this month.
“People would come here early for drinks and then go there and dance, or dance here,” Barker said.
With such a mixture of clientele, staff members at Joggers meet their share of interesting people. Whorton said the one guest who stays in his mind is an old man who comes in daily.
“This 90-year-old comes in and tells me that he used to be a boxer,” he said. “I asked him what he used to box, and he said ‘apples and oranges.’ And he always orders tomato juice mixed with Budweiser.”
University alumna Jesica Barnes said Joggers used to be filled with more people, but she still attends because it’s an old favorite.
“Joggers used to have $2 beer Tuesdays, and I would always come,” she said. “It was so packed that you couldn’t get to the bar. It’s not like that anymore, but I come here for old times’ sake because Tuesdays used to be so much fun. I come here to see if I can rekindle that.”
Joggers is a comfortable, laid-back spot in which to enjoy good music, strong drinks, dancing and hanging out with a friendly staff.
“We’re good people and we have fun,” Barker said. “No matter how busy it is, we always have time to joke around and flirt. People who come here know what they’re going to get.”
Joggers Bar and Grill is at
710 Willamette St.

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