New Bar and Eatery Not Alone in Downtown Expansions During Unknown Fate of Major Employer
Chillicothe — A new business opened downtown, a second bar and eatery for the owners – as news about the sale and probable reopening of the paper mill circulated on Wednesday.
The “Rooftop Bar & Bistro” had their ribbon-cutting by the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, four years to the day after the opening of the owners’ previous adventure, the “Wobbly Ghost Tavern,” on October 8th, 2025. Chamber leader Mike Throne livestreamed the ribbon-cutting with the couple who owns both businesses and their staff.
I asked Throne about the timing of the apparent confidence of the downtown during the economic and employment unknowns of the paper mill shutdown. Hear his opinion in a related story.
Tara Robertson gave me a tour of the comfortably tiny place of the Rooftop Bar & Bistro at 36 West Water Street, a former bank drive-through. She and husband Brian started the Wobbly Ghost Tavern on Main Street just East of Bridge Street, across from Ewing Street – which got its ribbon-cutting in 2021.
Robertson said they have had the new location for a year, but did not want to do a ribbon cutting until they felt ready for it. As it was, she said they opened it for business half an hour before the event.
I asker her about creating a new business during the paper mill unknowns. She said she felt awful for the mill employees, but agreed that she had enough confidence about Chillicothe to open a second business.
Watch the ribbon-cutting below, as well as take a whirlwind tour of the location, in the below videos.
