Colonels Reunite at The Family Dog

from EKU Magazine - Spring 2023

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Eastern Kentucky University’s 2022 homecoming celebration was one of the biggest and best in decades, and one event in particular gave generations of EKU Colonels a night to remember.

Colonels took to Water Street to celebrate the onenight-only return of The Family Dog, with thousands of alumni, students, families and community members paying a visit to the iconic Richmond venue 22 years after its closure. The Family Dog was the social scene of its time. Those who visited frequently said if you weren’t at The Family Dog, you were missing out.

On Oct. 21, 2022, former patrons crowded Water Street and waited patiently in line for their turn to enter the venue once again. The blue, orange and yellow stripes still adorn the brick building and illumination brought extra attention to the bold and vintage type painted on the side: the dog. Once inside, visitors’ hands were stamped, as they would have been decades ago. Eclectic canine artwork, including portraits, statues and the famous stained-glass windows decorate the venue alongside pictures of the staff through the years lining the walls. Wide booths, a long bar and a sprawling dancefloor gave plenty of room for visitors to take photos, socialize and even break out their best dance moves. In just over three-and-a-half hours, groups of 60 were taken in to relive their college memories. Close to 2,000 people toured the venue.

Alumni and sorority sisters, Amy Abrams Jones, ’89, and Traci Parrella Lipic, ’89, traveled back to Richmond for the event—Jones from Cincinnati and Lipic from St. Louis. Despite having a long drive, like many other alumni who traveled from across the United States, Lipic was thrilled to be able to reconnect and enjoy the evening with friends and family.

“I drove five hours away just to come tonight. We knew we’d see people from school, and we brought our kids who are now EKU alumni as well,” said Lipic.

First opening as Specks in 1940, it was renamed The Family Dog in 1974, proudly serving EKU Colonels until its closing in the early 2000s. Colonels have spoken highly about “The Dog,” as it was called in its prime for decades.

From disco to rock ’n’ roll, patrons would fill the bar ready to dance the night away. EKU students, as well as students who traveled from neighboring universities, helped create the legacy of “The Dog,’’ ultimately leading to its iconic one-night return.

EKU President David McFaddin, ’99 ’15, said, “All my friends at Morehead, UK, Centre and Transy were frequently in Richmond to visit The Family Dog. It was not just the place to be for EKU students, it was the place to be for any college student within 60 miles of Richmond.”

Some former patrons, including EKU College of Business Dean, Dr. Tom Martin, ’93 ’01, even brought their old Family Dog VIP cards out of storage with them to the reopening. These were provided to loyal patrons of The Family Dog, allowing them to skip the long lines and head right in.

Martin said, “Opening up ‘The Dog’ means a lot to the Richmond community. The nostalgia is at an 11 tonight—you’ve got a line up the block and around the corner, just like when we were in school.”

The Family Dog was brought back to life on that one October night. Alumni enjoyed seeing the Family Dog’s most iconic features where their favorite memories took place: the dancefloor, the stained-glass dog window, the upstairs section coined “Top Dog,” and Pacos, the restaurant that was below the Family Dog.

The venue houses many memories, from sorority sisters singing and dancing along to “We Are Family” to couples meeting each other for the first time, such as alumni Rhonda and Brian Walker, who met at The Family Dog and married five years later.

The reopening of The Family Dog will go down in Colonel history as one of the most successful homecoming events at Eastern and for allowing decades of Colonels to reminisce about their days as EKU students and the times shared with friends and family. n