Established in 1919, the American Legion Nelson-Lucking Post 47 has been a staple in the downtown restaurant and bar scene since 1956 at its current location, 50 Sibley Street. The Legion has the best view of the Mississippi River of all the downtown businesses and has served as a haven for veterans near and far, especially around the Christmas Holiday.
“Many Veterans have no other place they can go on Christmas where they feel like they are with family,” said one concerned bar patron on Christmas Eve. “To find out, on Christmas Eve, that this place is closing and may never open again is really messed up.”
The mood of the 30 plus people surrounding the bar on Christmas Eve was not one of joy, but one of sorrow, fear and even anger. Patrons were angry, staff were in tears and what was supposed to be an afternoon of good food and celebrations turned into a group therapy session that had its unknown beginning on Monday evening.
In piecing together tidbits of information from staff, official statements and an email we obtained, the message from Post Commander Neil Hoadley to the facilities manager on Wednesday morning occurred around 6:15 a.m.
The entire official response from Commander Hoadley and his email to members will be included at the end of the story.
There are two key terms that need to be understood before the story continues. POST and CLUB. The Post is the actual group of Legion Post 47 members, the organization behind the ownership and operation of the Club itself. Post members pay membership dues as part of the National American Legion organization. The Club refers to the actual building, including the restaurant and bar.
Longer-term residents of Hastings are familiar with a similar situation with the Lyle Russel VFW Post 1210 which gives the perfect example of the separation of Club and Post. VFW Post 1210 ran a similar business that used to occupy what is now the 2nd Street Depot. The VFW Post ultimately decided to end the ownership of the Club (the bar and restaurant) and they sold the club property. The Post itself moved to the strip mall by Coborn’s Grocery Store for several years until they were offered space on the United Heroes League property inside the old Extreme Sandbox building. The Post itself is still open, still fully functional and supporting their members, but they no longer have the Club in operation.
According to the email, the executive board of Post 47 met on the evening of Monday, Dec. 22 to discuss the immediate future of the club. The meeting was held to discuss financial questions about the Club from the 2025 fiscal year. The email from Commander Hoadley states: (Note: Dates in [ ] are editorially added to maintain the continuity of the timing.)
“I am writing to our members, though, because of actions that were taken today [Dec. 24]. For the last few months, your Executive Board has been monitoring our bank account activities. What we noticed and have been following are the times that our club checking account has gone into negative territory.”
The email continues describing Club checking account balances nearing $35,000. At the time, Executive Board of the Post made some decisions. First, they made changes to both the menu pricing structure as well as modifying club hours.
At the same time, they made the decision that ultimately led to the closing of the doors on Christmas Eve. The board felt setting a threshold for closure was a justifiable safety net for the Post’s survival, but its lack of communication to those on the business side is causing issues with patrons and employees. The Executive Board decided that if the Club checking account goes negative again, forcing the Post account to cover the overdraft, the doors would be closed if the overdraft brought the Post account below $30,000.
Commander Hoadley’s email continued. “On Thursday or Friday of last week [Dec. 18/19], our club checking account dipped again to the -$1200 range. By the time of the Membership meeting on Monday [Dec. 22], the amount had gone to the -$6000 range. Last night [Dec. 23] at 9:30pm, the amount was -$26,000 due to tax payments, this morning [Dec. 24] it escalated to -$29,000. Because of having only $52,000 in savings either of these two amounts would trigger the previously mentioned temporary closure at $30,000.”
That overdraft met the threshold set by the Executive Board, triggering the closure of the Club until the board can meet with the managers of the Club. That is when the chaos of Christmas Eve then began. Hoadley contacted the Facility Manager and informed her to close the Club until further notice.
In the email, Hoadley stated, “At 6:15 am this morning [Dec. 24], I contacted the Facility Manager and asked her to close the facility until I can hold an Executive Board meeting and then a second meeting with the Executive Board and the Managers of the Club and Gambling. The Post is still operational and functional, but we need to attend to how the club is doing business.”
The manager began contacting staff with extremely limited information and that triggered a cascade of fear because of the unknown. Questions from the staff could not be answered with anything factual, they were simply met with ‘I don’t know’.
Word reached fulltime staffers off for the day celebrating the holidays, a celebration that turned to worry and fear as they were left with many more questions than answers. Will I get a paycheck? Will I be working on Friday and Saturday where I make most of my money? How long will I be off work? Do I still have a job? All questions that no one wants to have in their head any time of year, but especially on Christmas Eve. All questions that no one seemed to have an answer to, that is when a patron had enough.
The patron had been in the restaurant enjoying time with coworkers when they found out about the last-minute closure. They watched the staff work through the tears and uncertainty to give the best possible service on what many feared was the last time they were going to be served at the Legion. All they knew was what the employees were told, closing on Christmas Eve at 4 p.m. until further notice. When the patrons at the bar asked questions, all the staff could do was answer “we don’t know” because no one communicated anything to them beyond that simple message.
A social media post was published to the various Hastings MN community groups confirming what several employees had vaguely published on their own social media pages. The Legion was closing Dec 24 at 4 p.m. until further notice, and that is when speculation began running wild.
“People are [angry],” said one patron. “This place is always busy, and everyone is welcome here. It’s not fair to the staff, it’s not fair to the veterans, it’s just not fair to decide to close this place the way they did on Christmas Eve. It’s really not fair to not tell anyone what is going on or why the decision is being made.”
As of 4:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, there was still no official word from the Commander or Executive Board made public. Employees did not know if they were going to open again, or if they had a job after that day. The private party that had booked the party room every year for several years was told earlier in the day their reservation was cancelled, and the facility was closed until further notice. People were commenting on the social media posts and we at the Hastings Journal put up our own post looking for people to contact us with official details to confirm the information presented.
The Post’s official explanation initially appeared on their Facebook page and initially did not allow comments. Pressure to open comments and also place it on their Club website did just that but comments were quickly turned off after garnering 60 responses.
The post, on the Hastings American Legion Facebook page occurred at 4:38 p.m., just over 10 hours after the initial decision to close was directed by Commander Hoadley.
The main part of the response pointed out from the get-go was that the Legion is not permanently closing. It was a cost-saving measure to avoid permanent closure, not move toward it.
Employees stepped away from the crowd of patrons to gather themselves and see what the response was, but they were too upset to read the post, so it was read to them.
The post did little to calm the nerves of patrons and employees even with the reassuring message that the closure was temporary. Eventually, the closure piece of the story was picked up by several of the Twin Cities TV stations who published limited information to their social media accounts.
As of Friday afternoon, Dec. 26, there are still several questions regarding the Hastings American Legion that are still not answered. Messages to reach Commander Hoadley have not been returned. There has been no official announcement of a meeting to address the questions surrounding the reopening of the Club, but multiple unofficial sources have stated a meeting is slated for Monday, Dec. 29. This is an ongoing story and information may change> Keep an eye on the Hastings Journal Facebook page for any urgent updates.
Here is the official response released at 4:38 p.m. on Christmas Eve on the Hastings Legion Facebook page. It is the same text that was later placed on their website.
Hastings American Legion - December 24 at 4:38 PM
IMPORTANT UPDATE – PLEASE READ
From the Commander Post #47
We want to address recent concerns and rumors regarding the Hastings Legion. The Legion is NOT permanently closing.
The Executive Committee made the difficult but responsible decision to temporarily shut down operations in order to take a step back, evaluate our current situation, and develop a strategic plan to reshape how the Club does business moving forward. The goal is simple: to generate sustainable revenue and ensure the long-term future of the Hastings Legion.
It’s important to understand that permanent closure involves many formal steps, and we are nowhere near that point. This temporary shutdown is actually a preventative measure — a cost-saving action taken to avoid permanent closure, not move toward it.
We know change can create uncertainty, but please know this decision was made with the best interests of the Club, our members, and our community in mind. We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.
Once again, this is a temporary measure designed to protect the future of the Hastings Legion and keep it serving veterans and the community for years to come.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and continued support.
I will be posting further informational updates as the Commander and Executive Committee directs me to do so.
The email sent to Legion Post 47 members from Commander Neil Hoadley
Greetings to all Post 47 members! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
First of all, the American Legion Post 47 is up and functional, the Post is still running.
I am writing to our members, though, because of actions that were taken today. For the last few months, your Executive Board has been monitoring our bank account activities. What we noticed and have been following are the times that our club checking account has gone into negative territory. Often it has started out around the $1000 dollar range, gone up to the $5000-$6000 range and then when the credit card reimbursement comes in, we bounce back up to the +$15000-$18000 area and the cycle start over. We have had tax payments on occasions when this occurred. The first time while we were monitoring, the negativity reached $35,000 before we transferred money from club savings to club checking and the second time it reached $18,000 before it bounced back. In addition, the Executive Board checked on our tax payments, at the time we checked from January 1st to September and found one operation paid $133,000 in taxes and the other paid $150,000 in taxes. We also checked how much we were paying for our food supplies and from August 1st to Thanksgiving we paid approximately $261,000 dollars, over a quarter of a million dollars.
The Board took some actions and the club changed hours and raised prices on the menu. Further, the Board selected a level at which we had to close the doors temporarily and make more serious decisions on our hours and operations. That level was decided to be $30,000. We needed to leave ourselves with some money to deal as much as possible with any bills that come in and hopefully you leave yourself enough.
On Thursday or Friday of last week, our club checking account dipped again to the -$1200 range. By the time of the Membership meeting on Monday, the amount had gone to the -$6000 range. Last night at 9:30pm, the amount was -$26,000 due to tax payments, this morning it escalated to -$29,000. Because of having only $52,000 in savings either of these two amounts would trigger the previously mentioned temporary closure at $30,000. At 6:15 am this morning, I contacted the Facility Manager and asked her to close the facility until I can hold an Executive Board meeting and then a second meeting with the Executive Board and the Managers of the Club and Gambling. The Post is still operational and functional, but we need to attend to how the club is doing business.
There has been a bunch of rumors on why the club is closed and somehow it turned into something different. Our Post is open and our actions are to attend to club business. And just so everyone knows, you can’t just close a Post permanently when you want. You need to have a Membership meeting for that sole purpose, the notice needs to go to every member, and the notice needs to be up for at least two weeks and I believe it might be as long as 30 days. Obviously, this isn’t what we’re doing. We are allowed to deal with the club without affecting the Post in any way, that’s what we’re doing.
So, our Post is operating and functional because of our membership.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!!!
Respectfully,
Neil Hoadley
Commander
American Legion Post 47
Department of Minnesota