The Christmas tree shines brightly at the entrance to the Dewey Beach Club, but for many guests their holiday visits to the popular restaurant and bar are bittersweet. The Dewey Beach Club, a place they’ve come to consider a second home, is preparing to close after 20 years.

“We came here with dreams and the chance to do it our way,” said Theresa Sponaugle, who owns the restaurant and bar with her husband Bill. “We’re leaving with 20 years of memories, lots of new friends and two children we’ve put through college.”

Theresa said Dewey Beach Club (DBC) has been the center of her family’s life. “When we began, Bill was finally able to do his own thing, and we had two small sons who we thought would enjoy it,” Theresa said.

For many years the Sponaugles lived above DBC, a convenience that enhanced its familylike atmosphere. The Sponaugle boys worked at DBC through the years. Stephen is now a chef, having graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. Paul met his wife Kiersten at DBC, and they now live in Lewes with their 3-year-old daughter Kayla.

The Sponaugles owned and operated DBC since 1988, except for an 18-month period in 1999 and 2000 when Highway One, the corporation that owns the Rusty Rudder and several other area establishments, owned it. But even then Bill continued to tend bar part time.

“It wasn’t a good match for Highway One, and we missed it,” Theresa said, adding they were delighted to be able to reacquire the business when it went on the market.

“A lot of people here with us now supported us from the start,” Theresa said. “They followed Bill from the Sea Horse Restaurant to the Rusty Rudder, when it first opened, and to here.”

The decision to close DBC corresponds with the expiration of its lease; Saturday, Jan. 3 will be its last day.

Theresa, who works full time at Beebe Medical Center, said she will enjoy having some time off to spend with her granddaughter. Bill said he’d rather not think about leaving.

A family restaurant

Ask people about DBC, and they’ll tell you to talk to members of the Walsh family of Dewey Beach, because the place has been a constant part of their lives. They created an ode when the Sponaugles sold it Nov. 9, 2000, and another celebrating it when the couple reacquired it Sept. 16, 2002. Both hang on the restaurant’s walls.

There are other families that also played a major part in DBC’s history, said Theresa.

Tom and Julie Auchincloss, whose daughters worked with Bill Sponaugle at the Rusty Rudder, have celebrated every Easter since 1998 with their family at DBC.

“In 1995 we had five grandchildren, and now we have 16,” Julie Auchincloss said of the family’s Easter brunch party that now boasts 32 people. “The people here are friends who are like family. They make you feel so special.”

Theresa also thinks of others like Marge and Whitney Lewis, who came to DBC for 15 years before they died in 2006. “They brought holiday decorations and were here for every function,” Theresa said. She laughed as she recalled the time they came on Halloween in large green trash bags dressed up as sea slime.

“The customers became our friends. They took what was supposed to be work and turned it into fun,” Theresa said.

A “Cheers” bar

DBC’s bar, also known as Spoon’s Saloon, has the type of atmosphere made famous by the bar in the television show “Cheers.” A bartender for 30 years, Bill, also known as Spoony by his many friends, knows what most of his customers want before they reach their seats.

“It’s pretty much the same now as it ever was,” said local George McMahon, who has been coming to DBC since it opened. “There’s no place like it,” he said as he greeted old friends from his own barstool replete with a brass nameplate that states “George.”

“Everything changes but change,” said server Dawn Kasow, taking a break from waiting tables to give a quick hello to friends at the bar.

The future remains a mystery

Beach Buddies LLC, the same entity that owns The Starboard and Bethany Blues, owns the DBC property. “We will continue to try to find a good fit for the restaurant, someone who will want to buy it, run it and bring new life to this business that has been such a vital part of all Dewey Beach locals’ lives,” said Beach Buddies principal Steve “Monty” Montgomery. 

“We have a few parties that are interested and looking into scenarios for the DBC. With all that we have on our own plates, our first option would not be to run the DBC ourselves,” Montgomery added.

Until then, toasts are made, best wishes exchanged and loving goodbyes are being said to the Sponaugles, who created the largest extended Dewey Beach family ever.

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Walsh family cherishes fond memories of DBC

Walsh family history in Dewey Beach, dating back to when they built their first Dewey Beach cottage in the 1930s, has become intricately intertwined with that of Dewey Beach Club and its owners, Theresa and Bill Sponaugle, for the past 20 years.

Jim Walsh, deceased, and Alice Walsh have eight living children, six of whom gathered for dinner Tuesday, Dec. 16, with spouses and children to celebrate Dewey Beach Club (DBC), where they say everything’s special and done with love.

Recalling good times, family matriarch Alice Walsh said there were too many wonderful memories to pick a favorite. “You can always come here and be with friends. Everyone’s like family,” she said.

Her oldest son, Michael Walsh, knew the Sponaugles from the early Rusty Rudder days when he was a commercial fisherman. “Spoony [Bill] and Theresa were always a great team,” he said, adding that DBC was his favorite hideout. “It’s been a place we could come to get away from the crowded scene.”

Thomas Walsh had his own mug at the bar and held his wedding reception at DBC.

Teri Burton said her favorite memories were of singing with her sisters, changing the words to songs and getting rave reviews.

Claire Walsh’s favorite memories are of her baby shower and discussions the night before her daughter was born about what her daughter would be named.

“Where am I going to have my baby shower?” asked Claire’s 13-year-old daughter, Nicole.

A favorite memory for Bernadette “Berni” Hearn was the night following the 1999 Rehoboth Beach Christmas parade, when her niece Nicole rode in the back of a Corvette convertible as Little Miss Dewey. After the parade they went to DBC, where she thanked everyone for her parade trophy as if she had won an Oscar.

“This was the place to come celebrate for something like that. It was the perfect place,” Berni said.

Berni’s daughter Aileen, 16, said her favorite memories were from a time when she and her family lived in an apartment near DBC for two years following a fire in their home. “We came for dinner almost every night, and we called it our second kitchen,” Aileen said.

Nicole said her favorite memories are of all the years she and her cousins were dressed up and singing Christmas carols following the Rehoboth parade. She said what she will miss most is the spoon cake that she takes to school to share with her friends. She then ordered spoon cake to go.

Alice and Jim’s youngest son, Francis, brought everything full circle when he said his fondest memories are of the start when he hung out at DBC with his buddies and now they all do but with their family members instead. “This place is all about family,” he said.