Louie’s Scoreboard serves up sports, community in Marion

The owners of Louie's Scoreboard would like their new restaurant to be a gathering spot for the residents of Marion.

'We want this to be a locally-owned place where the locals hang out,” says co-owner Katie Luehrsmann.

'We've heard it many times since we've been open - Marion needed something like this,” adds Katie's husband and business partner, Ryan.

The Luehrsmanns and their friends, Eric and Kelly Hartgrave, decided to go into business together after admiring the vibrant bar and restaurant community in Iowa City and wanting to provide a similar experience in Marion.

Louie's Scoreboard opened on Feb. 17. The family-friendly restaurant and sports bar serves smoked meats, burgers and cracker-crust pizzas for lunch and dinner. There are 16 beers on tap and more than 30 televisions for viewing games.

As early as 1933, a business called Ping's Scoreboard operated out of 740 10th St. that Louie's calls home. For decades, Stickney's Scoreboard occupied the building before closing in the early 1990s.

The Luehrsmanns and Hartgraves renovated the space, which had been vacant since 2012. The decor features signed and personalized sports memorabilia commemorating Iowa athletics, the strong basketball tradition at Linn-Mar High School, Katie's alma mater, as well as the sports teams of other local high schools, colleges and universities.

'We may be a little biased, but we support all the teams,” says Ryan, who played high school basketball at Cedar Rapids Washington and coaches boys' basketball at Cedar Rapids Xavier.

The kitchen is headed up by Shawn Lewis, who previously worked at Wildwood Smokehouse and the Sports Column in Iowa City and has built a reputation around his award-winning barbecue. Ribs, chicken wings and other meats are smoked in a custom-built smoker and all barbecue and wing sauces are made from scratch.

For more information about Louis's Scoreboard, visit louiesscoreboard.com or call (319) 826-2309.