She wears a mask at work these days, of course. But rest assured – there’s a big smile under there.
“This place makes me happy,” says Rachelle Howland Kelty , who’s been bartending at the Brewstation – her first gig in the service industry – for about a year and a half. “It makes me smile coming here. I don’t ever show up in a bad mood.”
She’s lived in Cottage Grove for over 25 years, so there’s a good chance you’ve already encountered Rachelle’s smile by now. And there’s a good chance you’ve seen it here, or at Bi-Mart, her other part-time job.
“I’ve been a patron here since they opened, and I’ve known everybody forever,” she says.
Rachelle recalls the days when she was taking her daughter to practice after practice, and part-time work was her only option. But after her oldest earned a full-ride volleyball scholarship to Portland State, she says, “I had a bunch of free time, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
She’ll admit that she didn’t know much about bartending or the service industry in general at first but adds that helping people comes quite naturally.
“I didn’t know a lot about the bartending aspect, but I’ve always been in customer service, so that part’s easy,” she says.
A friendship with owner Emily Rinck helped Rachelle fall in love with the Brewstation, but it wasn’t the only factor.
“I love everything about this place; there isn’t one specific thing,” she says. “They always take care of us, always. If we’re having a bad day, someone’s always there to talk to. They’re just amazing.”
The best times here happen when the place is full of friendly faces, she says, and she loves letting customers taste a variety of our fabulous beers. So much so, in fact, that she’s certain she wants to stay.
“I just love it here, and everybody that comes here loves it too,” she says. “I can’t tell you how many people have said, ‘this is our first time here, and we will be back. We can’t believe we haven’t been here before.”
