The New Glarus A&W Root Beer Stand arrived at exactly the right moment in the village’s history, when optimism ran high, cars ruled the evening, and Highway 69 promised to change everything.

Before it became a memory, the A&W Root Beer Stand was a promise. On warm evenings, cars streamed in from both directions along the still-new Highway 69, headlights swinging into angled stalls like fireflies finding their marks. The smell of burgers and fried onions hung in the air, mixing with gasoline and summer dust. Engines ticked as they cooled. Windows rolled down. Radios went quiet. For a village that had long centered its social life downtown, the stand felt modern and exciting, a place where New Glarus met the wider world rolling past on fresh pavement.