Last call: The Ice House celebrates its final day

It’s a day of mixed emotions for Joel Kish, the owner of The Ice House.

After 32 years, The Ice House is set to host a celebration of its final day Saturday evening.

Kish has owned the Emerald Park restaurant for 10 years, and before that it belonged to his parents, who built it in 1991.

In an August Facebook post, it was announced by The Ice House that it had been sold.

“There’s nervous excitement. (I’m) excited to have more of a family life and spend more time at home with my kids and do something other than be at work all the time,” Kish said.

“But in the same breath, I’m sad that something my family spent 32 years building and loving and (doing a good job caring about is) going away.”

The Ice House’s last day of regular service was Friday. It is hosting a soldout goodbye party scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.

Kish said the move was partially inspired by seeing the sale of government-owned liquor stores.

“We just figured, ‘Let’s put ours up for sale and see if there’s any interest in it,’ ” he said.

The Ice House’s liquor store will remain open but the bar and restaurant will be closed for renovations planned by the new owners.

As for what’s next for Kish, he said that’s still up in the air.

“I’ll take a little bit of time to figure out something else I might have a passion for,” he said. “I’ve spent all of my adult life in the food service and liquor industry and there are lots of other things out there that might be fun to do as well.”

Kish knows what he’ll miss the most about The Ice House.

“By far, the people,” he said. “(I’ll miss) the people in the community that I’ve gotten to know over the course of my life that I’ve spent so much time with.”

He said he’ll miss the daily interactions and considers the people he’s met over the years not as customers but as family.