Kenny Barr celebrates 70 years with longtime friends

+ Kenny Barr celebrates 70 years with longtime friends
Friends and co-workers filled the Sports Page Bar & Grill Sunday afternoon to celebrate Kenny Barr’s 70th birthday.

Barr has operated the downtown sports bar for 16 years and was at Shenkel’s on Longboat Key with his mother, Edith Barr Dunn, for 29 years. Shenkel’s closed in 1994.

Longtime Shenkel’s employees Bernie Gottschalk and Lisa Kelley collected photos from the past and had them on display for all to enjoy.

Thelma Grosvenor, a waitress at The Waffle Stop, which was owned by Barr’s family in the ’60s, recalls Barr washing dishes there.

“He began at the bottom and worked his way up,” she said. “He was always a hard worker and a good kid.”
Ulla Rott, owner of the popular Tail of the Pup on St. Armands Circle from 1960 to 1985, came with birthday greetings and to share memories.

Golfing buddies, restaurant patrons and friends the congenial Barr has made over the years joined the celebration.

Barr never stopped smiling the whole night. It will surely be a birthday he’ll never forget.