A & W – A Restaurant With History

Whiskey, coffee and sarsaparilla—three drinks every cowboy craves.

A few months back, Sandra Cox, one of Cowboy Kisses very own authors, wrote a great post on the history of sarsaparilla. While it doesn't replicate sarsaparilla exactly, the modern day version of this spicy, fizzy drink is root beer, and I am a big fan!

My favorite root beer is Barq’s. The tagline on their commercials is 'Barq’s has bite' and boy, is it true! Of the three popular root beers on the market - Barq’s, Mug, and A &W - Barq’s is the only one that has caffeine. I confess to being a daily drinker of soda and for a long time my drink of choice was Barq’s.

During Covid, along with a shortage of masks and toilet paper, came a shortage of Barq’s root beer, which forced me to mourn and change my ways, drinking whatever was available in dire times. There was never a happier day when production ramped back up and I was able to get my old favorite once again.

But I digress. The real focus of this article is not Barq’s nor even root beer in general, but the restaurant that grew out of the beloved drink—A & W.

According to a 2020 blog post on their website, there are more than 900 A & W restaurants worldwide. 460 of those are in the U.S. spread across 35 states.

A & W populates central California fairly heavily but of the handful that exist in Southern California – I am lucky to say one of them happens to be near my home. My kids and I pass it all the time. Just seeing the orange and brown sign gives me an endorphin kick, somehow jettisoning me back to childhood when stopping for a soda was a real treat. 

In present day, it’s the thought of cheese curds (put on the menu in 2003) with marinara sauce that has me swinging the wheel, accelerating my car into the parking lot, and squealing up to the drive through board. I’m exaggerating. No squealing haha. Just anticipation.

Fast food is always a pull when you’re on the road with kids, but fast food and root beer? A no brainer. If only the root beer budget was bigger. So the last time I forced myself to drive past the restaurant without stopping I began to wonder about the history of the quaint little chain. What I dug up was pretty interesting.

Over 100 years old, A & W dates back to June 20, 1919 when Roy W. Allen set up a roadside root beer stand at a WWI veterans parade in Lodi, CA. A few years later, He and acquaintance Frank Wright partnered together, opening a second stand which they quickly released to other operators so they could grow the business. A from Allen and W from Wright, became the name of their delicious little business—A&W. A few more years went by before Allen began to sell franchises. This established A&W as the first franchise restaurant chain in the U.S.

By 1950 there were 450 of the restaurants and Allen sold the whole shebang to a California company named A&W Root Beer Co.

Canada was home to the first restaurant that took A&W to international status. With outlets in the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, and other locations throughout Southeast Asia A&W has grown by leaps and bounds with more restaurants slated to open every year.

In addition to being the first franchise restaurant in the U.S., A&W also lays claim to being the first chain restaurant to sell a bacon cheeseburger. The first! Can you believe it? What restaurant nowadays doesn’t sell a bacon cheeseburger?

In 1971 the drink became available in both bottles and cans. Cans are my personal favorite because in my opinion cans keep the drink colder and fizzier than the bottled version - not that I will turn down a bottle mind you.

Rooty the Great Root Bear became the restaurant's mascot in 1971 and still sits outside many establishments today on a barrel of root beer. 

If you’re lucky enough to have an A&W near you, or you can hunt one down the next time you hit the road on vacation, you’ll have your choice of burgers, chicken, hot dogs, sides, and sweet treats.

Which brings us to the tasty conclusion: Root beer floats. Who doesn’t love the smooth, creamy vanilla flavor and spicy fizz of root beer frothing over a giant scoop of ice cream? My kids and I made some at the house just last week, but that did not stop me from ordering one at the restaurant when I swung in to take pictures for this post. Haha.

Long story short, times and names have changed. History has given way to modernity and Sarsaparilla has segued into root beer, but the next time you get a hankering to live the cowboy life or to taste a bit of Americana, jump in your car and program your GPS for the nearest A&W restaurant. Order a float, take a picture with Rooty the Bear, and please, for the love of all things tasty, eat a cheese curd for me.

To see some fun pictures through the years and for more A&W facts visit awrestaurants.com and read their blog.

Until next time, friends. 

Cali Black

Visit Cali Black’s website @ Authorcaliblack.com

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Check out Cali Black’s books

Sweet With Faith The Blue Sky Series

Sweet With Sizzle The Fake Series

Sweet With Grit – All That Glitters – Free with newsletter signup

Coming Soon: Sweet Christmas - Christmas In The Cascades – releasing October 25, 2024

Winter Thrills

 

Slade’s gloved hand wrapped around the baton, gripping it for all he was worth. After their disastrous performance yesterday, they needed this win. The Olympic committee rep would be in Red Lodge next week, and Slade refused to show up empty handed. If he was serious about convincing them to add Skijoring to the winter games lineup,  he needed a seat at the table. Beating Justin Bride today would get him that seat.

He watched as the first start gate attendant tugged on the fifty foot rope. Devin had tried tying it to the rigging rings behind the saddle but both of them preferred it tied to the saddle horn—that way the friction brushed more on Devin’s leg than Bear’s hindquarters which the horse did not seem to like. With more training, he might get used to it, but for now, the saddle horn served as Slade’s anchor.

He adjusted his helmet. The second start gate attendant approached and passed him the rope. Slade’s heart kicked into a crazy rhythm as he hollered at Devin. “Go, go, go, go, go!”

wikipedia.org Leadville Skijoring

Devin kicked Bear in the flanks and the quarter horse shot forward, his bohrium tipped shoes kicking up a mash of snow and slush.

Slade allowed the tether to slide through his left hand, positioning himself near the end of the rope. Tightening his grip, it jerked taut as Bear crossed the starting line at full speed. Zero to forty miles per hour in a couple of seconds left Slade breathless and exhilarated as he started climbing the rope.

He leaned into the first turn slaloming left around the blue gate. Barely having time to straighten, he flew up the six foot ramp and caught air before smacking down on the flat straightaway. A few aggressive pulls on the rope brought him closer to Bear and to the ring that he could not miss today. The two seconds they’d lost yesterday when he dropped it had cost them the win. These teams were too good for Slade to think that penalties wouldn’t hurt him.

Like lightning, he extended the baton and focused on spearing the orange circle right through the center. The crowd on the sidewalk cheered as he got it, and he forced himself to block it out. One ring by itself meant nothing. Two more gates, two more ramps, and two more rings stood between him and a successful finish.

Slade tilted right and swished around the red gate, bending it with the edge of his skis. How many times had he visualized these moments and these moves as he’d readied himself for a comeback?

The ramp rushed up in front of him and he nailed the landing, yanking himself closer and closer to Bear’s behind. The ring whooshed onto the stick. Slade bent his arm, protecting the precious cargo as he navigated the last gate. Almost there.

Bear bounded past the final slope and Slade held on as he sailed over. Spearing the last ring, he pulled himself forward with everything he had and soared across the finish line to a blinking sixteen point one seconds on the digital time board. He’d done it. He had just beaten Justin Bride, the reining skijoring champ by one tenth of a second.

courtesy of gohebervalley.com

***

It’s no newsflash that authors are always looking for inspiration for their next story. When a friend of mine told me about western skijoring—which I had never heard of—and sent me a picture of her husband on skis behind the back of a horse, I knew I had to use it in a book. The above is an excerpt from book three in my Sweet With Sizzle Fake Series. It’s still under construction so I can’t share a release date yet, but it’s titled Fake Marriage at Snow Peak and features Slade MacIntyre as an ex-Olympic skier turned skijorer. 

As I began researching the sport, I discovered it’s been around for hundreds of years just not as a sport. It began in Scandinavia as a form of transportation. Reindeer and dogs pulled people on long skis making movement over heavy snow during the winter months much easier. Skijor literally means to ski drive. Mules, snowmobiles, cars, and planes have also since been used to tow skiers around.

While horses are used in other countries, they are often riderless. The advent of American skijoring put a rider on the horse effectively combining rodeo and extreme skiing—or in more recent years, snowboarding!

While there are several competitions scheduled in Europe in 2025, the ones that I find most interesting as fodder for my western stories are the ones that take place on the circuit of several western states and Canada. Cities throughout Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado host two-day competitions January through March.

The events often feature music, food trucks, beer gardens, and hot chocolate for those die-hard fans standing around in the cold watching teams of crazed cowboys and skiers trying to outdo each other.

As small town events go, Skijoring competitions are perfect examples of community effort. Volunteers are welcome for everything from helping the designer build the track to judging the proceedings, running the starting gate, and keeping track of the various team entries.

Competitions usually have a pro level, an intermediate level, and a novice level although the number of entries and age of entrants varies from place to place. Each town creates their own track—some oval shaped, some U-shaped, some L-shaped with just one turn, and some as straightaways right down Main Street as is the case in Leadville, Colorado.

With average finish times somewhere around sixteen seconds, the races are over almost before they start. Tracks are typically six hundred to a thousand feet and boast some of the wildest winter sporting you could ever hope to see.

To learn more about skijoring, visit skijorusa.com or simply google skijoring. You will find numerous articles, pictures, and videos—some of which give you the incredible feeling that you are the skier experiencing the race.

As a final thought, if you have been following along in my Sweet With Faith Blue Sky Series, the series finale—Under the Stars is now available. Check it out on Amazon. All of my books are in KU and since the series is complete, it’s perfect for a weekend of binge reading.

Until next time, strap your skis on and hold onto your horses.

See you next month!

The Daddy of 'Em All

 Are there any travelers or armchair travelers out there? People looking for inspiring vistas, fantastic experiences, and sweet memories? If you said yes, yes, or yes, then have I got a destination for you! Save the date because the 129^th anniversary of the Daddy of ’Em All is coming to Cheyenne, Wyoming July 18-July 27, 2025.

Cheyenne Frontier Days has the distinction of being the largest outdoor rodeo in the world, and I can tell you from experience that it is fun! Interestingly, the dates include the National Day of the Cowboy which will be July 26, 2025.

What began in 1897 as a one-day event showcasing cowboy skills such as bronco busting and steer roping, has grown over the years to become a stop on the PRCA circuit (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) and draws top professionals who compete for more than a million dollars in cash and prizes.

Shad Mayfield is featured on the PRCA website as the Frontier Days winner of tie down roping this past Sunday.

The sheer size of the rodeo is exciting enough by itself, but it isn’t the only draw to Frontier Days. Over the course of the ten-day festival, there’s a carnival, live music, an air show, professional bull riding, and a village full of Native American art and crafts.

Parades, an Old West Museum, and pancake breakfasts round out the experience of camaraderie and western-themed fun.

I really can’t say enough about Frontier Days. My two sisters, a family friend, and I made the trip together twenty years ago, and it has lived in my heart ever since. 

It’s funny sometimes the things that stick in your mind. My sister and I were reminiscing a couple of weeks ago about the hair we found in the hotel room bed upon check-in. Our late-night complaint led us to a new room and the beginning of our adventure ha ha.

I remember feeling lightheaded at the altitude change (I had come from Los Angeles).

It was the first time I saw live bull riding, and the athleticism and courage of the riders captured my admiration so thoroughly that my first book, Blue Skies, Blue Eyes just had to be about a bull-rider! Clay West.

My second book, The Game, gives the heroine, Maisie Ellison, a unique tie to Frontier Days as a former event coordinator. She and Beau, the hero, also get to visit the festival and live some of the fun I found there so many years ago. I enjoy including things I’ve experienced or would still like to experience in my books.

Frontier Days is definitely a return-visit kind of place. If I ever get the chance to go again, you can bet I’ll be there in a heartbeat.

Summer is such a great time for rodeos, festivals, and fairs of all kinds. I grew up going to the Festival of the Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For three days in June, they close the downtown streets for a mind-melting, tastebud tingling array of ethnic food, fine art displays, and performances of all kinds, featured on multiple stages scattered throughout the streets.

If you’d like to be involved in a festival, volunteer roles abound as do opportunities to become a vendor, or to simply to support your community with the purchase of tickets and other goods for sale.

Nowadays, you won’t find me on a rollercoaster or trying to win giant stuffed animals on the midway, but I still enjoy a good festival or fair. My most recent visit was to a lavender festival near my home. The grounds were strung with twinkling white lights, and I sampled a fig and lavender pizza as well as lavender sparkling water. Our group roasted s’mores around the fire as nighttime fell.

Music, food, and entertainment in the great outdoors are the stuff good events are made of. There is something about these rich experiences and community interactions that feeds my soul. How about you?

You may not be able to get to the “Daddy of ’Em All, but I’ll bet you know of other good destinations you could share with us. What are some festivals you’ve been to or events in your area that you could recommend? Once we have a good list, I think it’ll be time to sit down and map out a mega road trip for next summer, don’t you? Western lovers taking the country by storm, lol.

Till next time, friends.

Cali Black

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