Past Will Live Again At Drake's

Past will live again at Drake's

Aug. 3 will be a nostalgic day for those who remember the soda fountains, ice cream and camaraderie of Drake’s Sandwich Shop.

Truman and Mildred Tibbals, owners of the 51-year-old business, are planning a reunion that day for former customers who attended local high schools between 1940 and 1955. Tibbals says the 2 to 8 p.m. reunion will be “quite the event.”

“During those years we got to know a lot of the kids real well,” says Tibbals of the former Ann Arbor, University and St. Thomas high school students. “They’re scattered all over the place now, but we haven’t seen them in so long that this sounded like a good idea.”

HE SAYS “at least 200” are expected at the reunion. “We’ve already got a lot of letters and lots of people are dropping in to say they’re coming,” Tihbals adds. “We’re really looking forward to it.”

The store, at 709 N. University Ave., will be closed to the public that day so memories of the past aren’t interrupted by views of the present, he says. Tibbals asks that any other former customers interested in attending the reunion drop in or write a letter to him at Drake’s.