After the last couple of ballgames at the Holmes Center, I decided to eat afterward. Mainly because I didn’t eat beforehand and in my aging…uh….age, I decided to eat. But instead of the fast and in-the-moment decent enough fast food, each time took me right across the street from the Holmes Center.

Lily’s Snack Bar has lasted since I reported on its imminent opening while at the Watauga Democrat newspaper. From what I remember, it comes from the Boone Saloon employee tree that also created The Cardinal, another restaurant long overdue for a visit.

Side story, when I was a cab driver (like an actual licensed one) around a decade ago, I drove the then-main bartender at Boone Saloon (Seth) home to Valle Crucis one night after a night of libations. Along with the fare, he gifted me a full bottle of Henry McKenna 10 Year Single Barrel Bourbon. Even though the liquid is long since consumed, I still have the bottle.

On these two weekends, I strolled into a mostly empty Lily’s. The second time, patrons in the outside seating were playing a board game, if I remember correctly. Sitting at the bar, I got different food each time. Only the first time I got an alcoholic drink: a Lily’s Iced Tea that had all the liquor in it. So much so that I had to walk it off and ended up wandering around an empty I.G. Greer Hall looking for a men’s bathroom.

The food was good. More expensive than it used to be, but was isn’t? The bartender each time was amiable as they prepped for the night crowd. Understandable, especially as I’m not the most talkative person. Even with the bartender who hiked up her thong over her low-rise jeans. I tipped both bartenders the same percentage.

Next door is what was the Tapp Room, which lasted well over a decade. Pretty sure I bought every type of burger they had. It was a staple for years in the winter. Pull in around opening, have an Eye-Opener Burger, maybe a beer, go watch App State Basketball lose or sometimes win, stroll back, have another meal (different tab), watch games and eventually go home. It was a simple life.

Now Tapp Room joins Flipside, Parthenon, Klondike and countless other former occupants of the trailer bars. Allegedly bought by Floridians, it’s already lesser than just by association. The new concept, which is a college-town type of chain, will eventually overcome its stigma with the passage of time. New students, unaware of the past history, will stroll in and determine by convenience, price and taste if the new Florida-type bar is worthy.

Lily’s sits as the old lady of the trailer bars, a crown they could hold for one more year, 20 years or who knows. It depends on circumstances unknown to most of us. But for now, it’s still there. A beacon for many, known among the sneerers as “the activist bar” for reasons very apparent upon a visit. A constant stream of artists of all sorts come through, packing the tiny space for dramatic and fun nights. Everyone can go to the cottage at Lily’s.

Even on a late winter afternoon, in the deep breath before a long night, Lily’s sits accepting all. As the bartender cuts limes in between my refills, it’s a piece of the Boone I lived in from 2010 to 2020. More recent Boone bars have brains behind them; full of business school ideas and quiet prejudices. And there’s a crowd for those places as well.

Boone and App State aren’t somewhere you own. There are no kings. There are thousands of princes, princesses, jesters and jokers, each given their own time. Eventually, that time ends. You make whatever you want out of your time at Boone and App State and it’ll give you the same energy back, but maybe not in the way you expect. That’s not true everywhere, or even in many places.

I’ll be back at Lily’s soon enough. There’s enough basketball left to justify a visit in between the snowstorms. And maybe beyond that. Hopefully, its new neighbor will play nice. The times will dictate the futures of both places. There’s a prince/ss or five out there that’ll put everything into Boone and App State now and craft it into something different in 2030. And for a gray-haired journalist, hopefully, they’ll have a chicken sandwich at Lily’s again.