A-J’s Break-A-Way: New owners bring new energy to longtime Merrill tavern

April and Jason Vander Velde recently purchased the tavern formerly known as Northway Club at N2198 County Road K in Merrill and have been in the process of interior renovations ever since. The Vander Veldes are also rebranding the bar to make it their own.
Now known as A-J’s Break-A-Way—a combination of their first initials with a pool theme—they hope to restore its role as a community gathering place, drawing in more patrons with activities and the establishment’s homemade pizza, a recipe former owners Kim and Tripp Woller shared with the new owners.
If you’d asked the couple about their plans for 2025 at the end of last year, neither April nor Jason could have predicted they’d go all-in to purchase and rebrand the local bar where April had been bartending—but here they are.
“It started out probably as a joke,” Jason said. “She was bartending, and Tripp sat right here and he says, ‘April, you wanna buy a bar?’
‘Whatever. Sure.’ And then fast forward—now we own a bar,” he said.

It shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to their friends and family, though. Jason brings business experience from his 21 years working in IT support for the healthcare industry at Wipfli, though he admits the bar business is new territory.
And April, though she had gone back to school for a career in medical coding, hadn’t yet found a job in the field—and many of her classmates hadn’t either.
Having worked at the bar for nearly five years under the previous owners, April could envision the upgrades she’d make. And, she said, she’s been bartending for 28 years, starting when she worked alongside her mother, who also owned a bar.
“I love bartending,” April said.
“I love the people interaction, and we just started talking about it,” she added, after realizing the Wollers were serious about selling. “It wasn’t a long talk about it. It was—what, a month maybe?” April said, looking at Jason.
The couple officially took ownership on April 4, 2025, and spent five intensive weeks remodeling before reopening on May 13.
“We remodeled—we updated all new floors, all new bar, the back bar, the kitchen—pretty much everything in the front of the bar except for the walls and ceiling is new,” April said.
Since then, they’ve also updated the lighting, which was designed to brighten the space.
Now they’re excited to showcase all their hard work and reintroduce the space as A-J’s Break-A-Way with a Grand Opening event this Saturday, June 21, from 11 a.m. to close. They’ll offer a variety of drink specials from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., complimentary snacks throughout the day, raffles including a 50/50 drawing to raise funds for a local nonprofit organization, and DJ karaoke beginning at 7 p.m.
Their regular hours are currently Tuesday and Wednesday, opening at 2 p.m., and Friday through Sunday, opening at 11 a.m. Bar closing time will depend on the patrons, the Vander Veldes said. If it’s busy, they’ll stay open until the official bar-closing time. They will be closed on Mondays.
The couple plans to revitalize entertainment offerings, including pool tournaments, cribbage tournaments, and DJ karaoke nights. They currently host a Tuesday Night Bags League, Wednesday Horseshoes, and Thursday Volleyball League, sponsoring teams for both bags and volleyball.
“We’re going to start doing pool tournaments again,” April said.
This year, A-J’s Break-A-Way plans to sponsor five pool teams.
During the summer months, A-J’s will offer free pool on Tuesdays until pool league season starts around mid-September. At that time, A-J’s will also switch to being open on Mondays and closed on Tuesdays.
One feature that remains unchanged is the homemade pizza menu, which continues to draw customers specifically for the food. (Yes, they offer carry-outs.) No frozen pizzas here.
The Vander Veldes are currently the bar’s only employees, and it’s been a lot of work in a very short amount of time. They did most of the work themselves—except for the flooring—and April said they still have a few projects left to finish. Some of the behind-the-scenes tasks—like updating Google Maps and directories and creating a new business Facebook page—have taken a backseat to the physical remodeling. But it’s been an all-in endeavor.
“We didn’t want it to stay the same as it’s been for the last 60 years,” April said. “We wanted to make it different. We wanna make it ours.”