Owners Amanda Johnson, left, and Gary ‘Buzz’ Osborn, right, pose below a drink token which was donated by a customer.

A little over a year since it opened its doors on Feb. 1, 2022, The Buzz Stop Bar has enjoyed a boom in business which has far surpassed the hopes of its owners, Amanda Johnson and Gary ‘Buzz’ Osborn.

“It’s been more than we expected,” Johnson laughs. “It’s been a lot.” 

The popular Winnebago bar, located at 29 South Main Street, has already garnered national recognition by scoring a slot in Dive Bar Road Trip’s 2023 March Dive-ness Tournament.

The Dive Bar Road Trip organization is a group of friends and dive bar fans from Faribault who seek to celebrate small, ‘mom and pop’ establishments across the nation – local watering holes which are the true hidden gems of their communities.

“Times are tough for all small businesses, but keeping these local bars operating is very important for our communities,” Dive Bar Road Trip’s website states. “Many of these businesses serve as a local meeting place, a place to work, restaurants, and so on and so forth.” 

Annually, the organization invites dive bar fans to nominate their favorite local dive bar for the March Dive-ness Tournament, a bracket tournament scheduled to coincide with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament, or March Madness.

This year, Dive Bar Road Trip expanded its bracket to include 128 dive bars throughout the country, upping the ante from its usual 64 competitors.

Johnson and Osborn were surprised when they checked Facebook one day, and discovered that they had been nominated for the March Dive-ness Tournament.

The nominations kept rolling in, and before long, The Buzz Stop had officially made the tournament bracket.

Over the next few weeks, Dive Bar Road Trip invited dive bar fans across the nation to participate in March Dive-ness by voting for their local dive on Facebook. One bracket at a time, the 128 participants faced off to compete for the next level of the tournament.

Voting began on March 17, when The Buzz Stop went head-to-head with Kirby’s Beer Store in Wichita, Kansas. Over 400 votes earned The Buzz Stop a slot in the next bracket.

Voting continued over the next few weeks, and The Buzz Stop eventually scored a slot in the Sweet 16 bracket on March 24, after beating out Prairieville, Louisiana’s Fat Cat Saloon.

Johnson and Osborn were pleasantly surprised each time The Buzz Stop beat out its competition, but they admit to being truly shocked when it won its Final Four match-up against Tip Top Lounge, a bar in the bustling college town of Ames, Iowa.

“We’ve got a lot of likers out there,” Osborn says, chuckling.

After securing its spot in the Final Four, The Buzz Stop lost out to The Edge Eatery & Drinkatorium in Rapids City, Illinois - the eventual winner of the tournament.

The Buzz Stop, already popular in Winnebago, truly carved out a place on the map after its March Dive-ness run. Johnson and Osborn attribute their dive’s performance to their loyal customers and tight-knit community.

“I just want our customers to know how much we appreciate them,” Johnson says. “Without them, we wouldn’t be here.” 

In return, she and Osborn do their best to make The Buzz Stop a hub for community entertainment.

“We’re always trying to think of different things to keep people entertained, and wanting to come here,” Johnson says.

Those initiatives range from regular musical entertainment – both karaoke and live bands – to a weekly meat raffle which has quickly gained a local following.

The raffle takes place on Saturdays from 4 to 6 p.m., and offers 12 chances to win a package of meat valued at $20.

The Buzz Stop also hosted a special, month-long raffle this year in support of the Faribault County Humane Society (FCHS), with tickets sponsored by the American Legion Post #82.

The prize offered at the drawing, which took place on Feb. 18, was a cedar chair handcrafted by Jared Turbes.

“The Turbes family loves animals – and they knew I loved animals as well – and thought this would be a great opportunity to help (the Humane Society) out and show some support,” Johnson says.

The raffle raised $2,070, and 100 percent of the proceeds went to the FCHS.

In another show of community outreach, ‘Friends of The Buzz Stop’ recently raised $500 for the Winnebago Food Shelf by contributing to a donation jar which was set up at the bar.

Community, perhaps, is the crux of The Buzz Stop’s success. Johnson and Osborn prioritize their bar’s status as a welcoming place for locals to gather.

In turn, many members of the community have donated unique pieces of decor to make the bar feel like their own.

Johnson and Osborn point out numerous decorative pieces around the bar which were gifted by locals, such as table tops customized with The Buzz Stop logo, hand-crafted shelving and a life-size drink token which is now suspended over the bar.

Even when their customers travel someplace new, The Buzz Stop encourages them to bring their local bar with them. In a new initiative called ‘Where in the World is The Buzz Stop,’ locals can send pictures to the bar’s Facebook page in which they pose all over the world with, or wearing, The Buzz Stop’s merchandise.

So far, submissions have streamed in from across the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, and even the Mavericks penalty box.

Winnebago residents are clearly proud of their local watering hole, and their pride is shared by its owners.

“We take a lot of pride in what we do, and we want to make sure people get the best service possible,” Johnson concludes.