Friday night marks a special evening for People’s Bar and Grill and the Sundogs. The Sundogs were the first band to play at Peoples, then a fledgling bar, and tonight they are back together for a special reggae performance to celebrate People’s fifth birthday.

Tom Zmolek, owner and proprietor, opened People’s Aug. 25, 1990, 20 days after he graduated from ISU. “A lot of brain cells have been killed between now and then,” Zmolek laughed.

“I graduated Aug. 5, signed the lease Aug. 11 and opened the doors from a vacant drug store to a bar on Aug. 25,” Zmolek said. “I would never, ever do that again. It was just hell trying to get the place open.”

People’s was just a big void when Zmolek started out, and he envisioned making People’s a bar where national acts would want to play.

“It was a big gray box and that was it,” Zmolek said. “There were no windows in the front; it was all boarded up.”

That has all changed now. There are windows, a stage, a kitchen and quite a selection of alcoholic beverages to choose from. A lot of hard work and dedication have gone into the transformation of People’s. “I attribute a lot of the success to hiring quality employees over the years,” Zmolek said. “People’s is a family to me and them; People’s isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle.”

But perhaps the one thing that makes this bar stand out from most of the other bars is the music. “It’s nice and idealistic to book bands that you like and think that people are going to come, but it’s not reality,” Zmolek said. “You have to book what the people want.

“We’re more of an entertainment venue; when you come to People’s, you don’t know what you’ll get.”

Sometimes it’s a hit-or-miss type of situation, Zmolek said.

The hits include Martin Zellar, Cracker, Edwin McCain (with special guest Hootie and the Blowfish), Tina and the B-Sides and Filter to name a few. “I’m more than happy with [being able to bring in national acts],” Zmolek said.

“I’m ecstatic. I never thought I’d be able to pull in acts like Big Head Todd and The Smithereens. . .

“I never in my wildest dreams envisioned that it would become as big as it did.”

But there have been a few flops. The biggest flop that Zmolek can remember happened not too long ago. “I can name this band because they broke up: OJUS,” Zmolek said. “They were from Boston and on a Tuesday night, they took a packed house and cleared it within three songs.”

Flops like those haven’t put a damper on Zmolek’s vision. He has much more up his sleeve to offer the Ames community. “I’m working on converting the Ames Theatre into

a performance theater,” Zmolek said.

Now that five years have come and gone, Zmolek said there’s nothing but the future to look forward to, and that future’s so bright he has to wear shades, to borrow a Timbuk 3 tune. People’s has become a mainstay with students and Campustown. In fact, Zmolek said he found out that the corner of Welch Avenue and Lincoln Way has the highest amount of foot traffic in the state of Iowa.

“It really doesn’t surprise me,” Zmolek said. “It’s the cornerstone of Ames.”