Since 2006, the First Midwest GOLD Club has traveled to Grand Rivers, Ky., every November to kick off the Christmas Season. GOLD Club Coordinator Rob Callahan said, "We go there to see a live Christmas show, all the Christmas lights and to enjoy dinner at Patti's 1880's Settlement. The trip almost always sells out early . . . by early, I mean, in August and September."
Since everyone knows the itinerary and cost, he even has folks signed up for the 2018 trip. For many people, the trip to Grand Rivers is a Christmas tradition.
This year, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2017, 54 people made the journey. At one point, there were 30 people on the waiting list.
The "Badgett Playhouse, which is located just across the street from Patti's, offers a Christmas Show which changes somewhat from year to year. They actually perform five different kinds of shows per year! Among the shows the GOLD Club has seen are: The Patsy Cline Story, The 50s Show, Sweethearts of Country Music, and the Big Band Show. The music is performed with a live band, singers, dancers and actors.
In 1975, Bill and Patti Tullar stopped in Grand Rivers, Ky. and fell in love with the town. Sharing a love for the Land Between the Lakes area, they purchased the Grand Rivers Motel. In 1977, Bill, Patti, Chip and Michael Lee, started Patti's 1880's Settlement as "Hamburger Patti's Ice Cream Parlor." Bill soon became tired of being called Mr. Patti, so the boys built him a restaurant of his own in 1990. Bill's was designed with added entertainment to accommodate bus tours. Bill's had Honky Tonk piano players; the hostess and servers were dressed in period costumes as they still are today. Mr. Bill's has the same food, same servers as Patti's - everything is the same except for the room size. Patti's has always been a family kind of place. Patti's is an award-winning business and serves more than one million dollars in pork chops every year, not to mention their pies with mile-high meringue. Each year, they serve more than 350,000 people in this little town of only 350 people. Patti's offers great food, beautiful gardens, southern hospitality, a wide variety of shopping, and beginning in November they decorate for Christmas in AWESOME fashion!