Duane and Kelley Yock are priding the bar, Yock’s Landing, as the community bar.

“We want this to be a place that is welcoming to everyone,” Kelley said. “I don’t need a sticker on the door to say everyone is welcome here, that should be apparent inside.”

Duane said that one thing he likes about the bar is that they have patrons from both ideologies who will sit and talk at the bar.

This year, Yock’s Landing was named Business of the Year by Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group.

“When Kim Heeren came to tell us we’d been nominated for the award this year, my jaw just hit the floor,” Kelley said. “It was a wonderful surprise.”

In their nomination, CDG noted Yock’s Landing for support of all of the activities and festivals held in Mount Vernon and Lisbon.

For Kelley and Duane, though, that’s part of being a small business in this community – supporting the things that support and uplift the other businesses in the community.

For the duo, what the reward also means is a recognition of their long hours and hard work in keeping their small business open.

“Running a small business in this day and age is hard,” Kelley said.

One of their biggest challenges happened two years into owning the bar, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced their bar to be closed for 70 days.

“Instead of wallowing in tears, we took that time to tackle a number of projects and remodels to the bar,” Kelley said. “Us and 10 of our close friends did work on the bar, including electrical upgrades.”

The ceiling, flooring, brick façade on interior walls and a new deck were all projects that were tackled then.

“It was one of those changes that we still see people who come in and remember it when it was Joe’s and see how much it transformed,” Kelley said.

The bar is one of a few cash-only businesses, but they also have an ATM with minimal fees at the bar.

“Being a cash bar helps us keep our prices lower by not dealing with those card fees,” Kelley said. “Beau Dylan’s, Baxa’s Sutliff Store and Tavern and us are some of the only in the area that are cash only establishments. But it helps us keep things to roughly $4 each.”

And while they don’t have a lot of food options, Kelley said that items like frozen pizzas, pretzels, popcorn and other offerings are well received. They have a Slushee machine they recently installed that allows them to make slushies without alcohol or with, depending on patrons preferences.

The bar is family friendly.

“We are a safe space for kids, especially during summer, if they need a place to cool down from being outside for too long,” Kelley said. “We’ll get them a popsicle or water and have access to a phone so they can call home if they need to.”

That family friendly atmosphere extends as well to the Magical Night activities, where the bar provides options for families during that day.

The bar also loves hosting live music when they have the opportunities.

“We are really disappointed that we weren’t able to have the live bands during Heritage Days weekend,” Kelley said.

And the bar is a family affair, with Jakob and Max also helping at the bar as needed, as well as other family members.

“All of the money we receive goes back to this bar at the moment,” Kelley said.

And the Yocks will continue to be a cheerleader for many of the businesses in the community on their social media pages.

“We should all be supportive of our area businesses,” Kelley said.