To get to the start of Spur Bar, we have to go back about 8 years, to the adoption of my dog, Ghost… my best friend.

Animal Rescue wasn’t something that generally crossed my mind at a cool 22 years old. Until circumstances landed this dog in my care. I’ll spare you hours of reading it would take you to get though the volumes of tearful stories, lessons, and love shared by myself and that transplant Pitty but suffice to say that dog changed my life and built me into someone who viewed the world through a different lens.

Learning about what happens to dogs like Ghost across the nation and the world lit a fire in me. That fire spread into a passion for trying to help the beings on this planet that can’t speak for themselves. I wanted to help, realizing immediately that actions and funding are the two biggest weights on the back of the community.

With no money, and plenty of time, I searched for years for a way I could help. Volunteering and sharing the stories of these animals. Eventually, I found myself deep in the amazing opportunity, given to me by a friend, where we were able to bring hardened abusers to real justice. All of this, every step down this amazing road, was and continues to be because of that dog.

At some point in animal rescue, you reach this crossroads where realize that there is only so much one person or one group can do, and the ability to expand their services comes from funding. Money is tight in this world and no one can be blamed for not handing it out… it's tough out there. That leaves those in the world of animal rescue in a tough place. They have all the love, drive, compassion, and desire to keep saving lives and inspiring change, but they have none of the money that can truly make it happen. Well, that’s where myself and my team saw a river that needed a bridge, so we got together and became determined to master bridge (bar) building.

The experiences of long days at the barn stacking thousands of hay bales, shoveling…. ya, and helping my mom while she does the heavy lifting in the rescuing and training of horses so they can be given safe and proper homes would prove to be essential in this whole adventure. It turned me down my own path, where I was able to learn a thing or two and do a thing or two. You can see where this is going, I saw the opportunity to bring these two things that are so enjoyable to me together under one roof.

After running the idea by some trusted people, who all would be part of the team so integral in getting to this point and far beyond, we decided we would make a gentleman’s agreement with the public: We give you an amazing experience every time you walk in the door, and you give us your hard earned coin that we need to make donations (on your behalf) to these essential services that animal rescue requires. Everyone walks away feeling great, and doing good. We needed a way to make this agreement a thing… and thus THE SPUR BAR was born.

Donations and donors are the premium fuel that drives the hard working engine when it comes to any charity. Without donations, that engines chokes and stalls. We want to bring that fuel in and ignite something wonderful for everyone involved, which I guess makes SPUR a gas station of sorts…

I may be rambling by now but this is a passion to everyone on this team, and do really hammer home the WHY, I feel it necessary to explain in detail. The point really comes down to this; everything we do here is with a purpose. We work as a team, and our patrons are directly a part of that team. We work together to create an experience every time that door opens and someone walks through. After all, it is part of our agreement… and we are women and men of our word. We work together to have fun, and do whatever we can to bring much needed support to those who do all the real work in such a difficult realm.

Thank you for reading this far, we hope to see you very soon, partner. We have work to do…

-JS