On a normal weekend evening, Welch Avenue teems with hundreds of students ready to drink, listen to live music and have some good, collegiate fun. Tuesday transcended time, as Welch looked much like it does on a typical Saturday. Music drifting from the southeast side of the street on this night, however, was peculiarly nostalgic.

Standing on a stage amid streamers and balloons at People’s Bar and Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way, was none other than Kentucky Fried Mullet, a band expected to never play again after it played its last show in April. But on Tuesday night, the band rejoined forces to celebrate People’s 15th anniversary.

The seasoned bar, owned by Tom Zmolek, has had a rich and humorous history. It all started when Zmolek was a junior at Iowa State.

It was during his time in school that he opened his first bar under a drug store, which he jokingly called Underwhere?.

“People would come looking for the bar and ask the drug store occupants where they could find it,” Zmolek says. “They would reply, ‘It’s under.’ To which the patrons would ask, ‘Under where?'”

When he graduated from Iowa State in 1990, the drug store had been vacant for six months, so the landlord asked Zmolek if he would like to expand his business.

He struggled to find a name, but finally settled on People’s Bar and Grill because that was what customers had come to call it – so he went with it.

“We were into live music,” Zmolek says. “I’ve always had a strong desire to be involved in live music, so when the landlord gave us the opportunity to go from a 100 capacity to a 300 and have bigger names come in to play, I took it.”

With a roster of big bands such as Filter and 311, People’s has played host to many names as-seen-on-MTV on their way up through the ranks.

And Kentucky Fried Mullet’s revival from its loyal Thursday shift last year complemented the bar’s reputation as a music venue.

Bill Rickard, a 1977 Iowa State alumnus, has been a regular since People’s opened and remembers its transformation into a popular spot.

“It was a drugstore and then it wasn’t,” says Rickard, now a technician in the aerospace engineering department. “I saw it in passing and decided to go in.

“It’s a nice place with really good bands. There wasn’t a lot of live music back then, but the bands they did get were really good.”

Zmolek says he planned the bar for college students and live music. He wanted the feel of the bar to be one where an average Joe could go to party, hear live music and have a good time.

“I wanted people to feel comfortable whether they were wearing a Polo shirt or a suit and tie,” Zmolek says.

“I wanted everyone to feel at home.”

Rickard says he goes about once a week and the staff keeps him coming back.

“No one’s pretentious here,” Rickard says. “The people and the staff are always great and so is the live music.”

Devin Vandenbroeke, senior in mechanical engineering, says he has enjoyed going to the fun, energetic bar since he turned 21 more than a year ago.

“They always have a live band playing and the alcohol’s cheap,” Vandenbroeke says.

“I like the local bands.”

Over the years, not much has changed for the customers of the friendly little bar on the corner of Welch Avenue and Lincoln Way.

The menus, prices, music and the windows in the front weren’t originally there, but those are the only changes the building has seen in 15 years.

“The basketball game was really popular in the 90s, then they weren’t and when it came back, I’m pretty sure the company just put the same ones back that they had taken out,” Zmolek says.

“But the focus is on the music, not the building.”

Rickard says he hasn’t seen much change either.

“Popularity has come and gone but the staff has always been really great,” he says. “The staff is wonderful; I don’t go anywhere else.”

Although not much has changed for the customers, things look different for Zmolek since he opened People’s.

“I’m not here as much,” he says. “I used to bartend six nights a week.

“Now I operate nine different bars, so my time is pretty limited.”

He says he has seen the bar evolve with the times – they now play pop, among other types of music.

“But the bar still stands for the same thing,” he says.

The bar invited people to remember the good ol’ days with an anniversary celebration Tuesday night where they gave away prizes such as a Rolling Rock mountain bike, guitar and bag, and cut prices down to the original 1990s rates.

But the highlight of the evening was Kentucky Fried Mullet’s performance.

The crowd roared after every song, cheered at the antics of the musicians and captured the essence of what Zmolek sought to create 15 years ago and continues to this day.

“It was born of live music,” Zmolek says.