Wild Duck in Eugene closing on Jan. 2 -- share your favorite stories

It was a pretty lame bar in the realm of watering holes.

Hey George,

I heard a rumor that the Duck's owner was sick and that's why it's closing. Any confirmation?

Restaurant/bars that last a long time often close for one of two reasons. 1. The children of the owner have no interest in carrying on. 2. They get a huge cash offer for the property. Where I live, in Charlotte NC, small restaurant owners are getting millions (the spacious parking lots worth more than the building) and soon construction begins on luxury apartments. Nice nest egg for these new retirees who worked hard for decades.

I'm sure we'll be ablet to find a bar within walking distance of the track and hotels, no?

Mac Fleet doesn't view it as a big loss.

Wow, this is totally out of left field - I guess it's just too much downtime between track meets and if you've ever been there you know it's kind of in that random eastern pocket of the town with not much else going on around it - especially when no sports events are on.

The coolest memory I have personally was after trials in 21 after Clayton Murphy won the 8. He rolled in around 9.30-10pm and the bar (which was packed by then) gave him a standing ovation for legitimately an entire minute. It was just great spirit there and it was always full of old school track people and great figures of the past as well as the newer generation.

Massive bummer.

It definitely was, the business jus because more expensive in those 35 years.

Actually 27 years. The Wild Duck first open 1995 on 6th. Bob opened the Villar Pub mid 2000s on what was a McDonald's, then opened the new Wild Duck in a different building circa 2011/2012 closer to the bb arena. Not sure when the original WD closed, but I assume there was a neat segue old > new.

I got my best people on it.

Didn't make it to the Duck during my solitary trip to Eugene but I always got the sense from others that it became the post-race spot only because Taylor's closed.