Story and Photos by Lisa Carolin
When Judy Merkel exited The Wolverine Food and Spirits building on Saturday, Sept. 13, it was one of the last times she will ever do so. The Wolverine closed on Aug. 23, and last Saturday, more than 240 items from the restaurant were sold at an auction held in an adjacent giant tent, set up just for that purpose.
Hundreds of would-be bidders attended the auction which began at 11 a.m.
“There is a cabinet I’m looking for,” said long-time Wolverine patron Maureen Millen. “When I told my son, who’s in the Navy, about the Wolverine closing, he said that he never got to have a beer there, so I sent him a care package with one in it!”
Betsy Hackworth is a cousin of the Merkels and while attending the auction reminisced about all the times she spent at the Wolverine.
“I had my first real beer here,” she said.
Before the auction began, auctioneer Joseph Merkel IV, son of owner Judy Merkel, offered up a toast with his mom standing right in front of him.
“I’m proud they hired me,” he said to the audience. “To great times and great memories.”
“And to the best food in town!” shouted someone from the audience.
And with that, paintings, restaurant equipment, signs, taxidermied animals and more hit the auction block.
Peter Fink came from Ann Arbor.
“I used to come here to have a few beers,” he said. “I’m hoping to get some taxidermy stuff like the wolverines, but that may not be realistic.”
Once the auction got going, so did Judy Merkel, who headed outside to the parking lot to sort through more items. She owned the Wolverine with her husband Joseph Merkel III, who died last year.
“This is emotional and bittersweet,” she said, reflecting on the more than 46 years they ran the Wolverine. “It’s hard, but it’s time. The hardest part of all this is not seeing all the people any more. But I have no regrets because my husband really wanted me to do this.”
She says that the building is old and needs so many repairs that it just isn’t economically feasible to keep it. The property was sold to Speedway LLC, which owns the adjacent Rich gas station. The plan is to demolish the Wolverine building as well as the existing gasoline station building and to build a bigger gasoline station that includes a convenience store.
What’s next for Judy Merkel? The 68 year old looks forward to spending more time with her grandchildren.
Merkel says that she will turn the keys to the Wolverine over to Speedway on Sept. 21, which she says just happens to be the birthday of her late husband.
