![]() ![]() “I think he saw the potential for a really good bar in Columbia,” Goose says, noting that Harper came from Iowa City, Iowa - home to the University of Iowa and many successful bars. Harper, a recent MU grad, decided he wanted to open a bar in 1971, but bars were required to have a certain percentage of food sales in order to sell hard liquor, Goose recalls in recounting one of the first obstacles Harper faced. ![]() Goose fit into the picture by happenstance. But it’s a fact - I was their first waitress.” “Besides, I was already working as a kindergarten teacher at the U-School on campus. Goose had teamed up with Harpo’s founder Dennis Harper to offer expertise and direction on setting up the kitchen and the menu that was heavily influenced by the Palan’s VW van excursion to and from the West Coast.Īs for those first few days? “Waitressing wasn’t exactly my bailiwick,” Kat continues. ![]() She was hired as the first waitress when Harpo’s opened in 1971, the year after Kat and Goose got hitched and after they returned to Columbia to pursue graduate degrees at MU. “As for those first few days, they were desperate for a waitress.” “I only worked for a couple of days to help out,” Kat remembers with a bit of hesitation before laughing. Somehow – how, really? - I didn’t know this important family fact until Thanksgiving Day last year. Kate and Earl Palan - aka Kat and Goose - are now 53 years into their happily-ever-after journey and Harpo’s is still thriving as one of Columbia’s most iconic dining watering holes. Two Mizzou grads, loving each other and loving life in the free-spirited days of the early 1970s. She was the first waitress at Harpo’s and he was the first chef. ![]() Mizzou grads tied the knot, traveled the country, then - almost accidentally - saw the birth of Harpo’s. ![]()
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