Grab a cigar: Local business makes the best of Long Grove's frequent bridge crashes

[JohnS]

Grab a cigar: Local business makes the best of Long Grove's frequent bridge crashes

 Stock Photo - Photo credit Getty Images

This week, the covered bridge in far northwest suburban Long Grove was hit again by a truck. WBBM’s Nancy Harty reports a local business is marking what’s become a somewhat regular occurrence.

Neumann’s Cigars and More is next to the bridge and has captured many of the truck strikes on its security camera. Owner Ken Neumann decided a few months ago to give a free cigar (worth around $10 to $16) to any customers in the store during crashes. He estimates they’ve given out at least 40 so far, including to a man watching from the porch last month.

He says he loves the town and feels the crashes have become almost comical. Neumann plans to keep out handing free cigars after crashes through the end of the year. According to the Long Grove Covered Bridge Accident Tracker, this is the 66th time it’s been hit since the bridge was restored five years ago.

Security videos posted online have been even more popular than the free cigars. According to Neumann, they have been watched by more than 5 million people.

Source: https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/for-every-long-grove-bridge-crash-the-biz-gives-out-cigars

[Chibearsv]

Long Grove is a tiny tourist town with a few artist galleries and nice little restaurants and other antique and craft shops. It’s an old one lane covered wooden bridge. Trucks that are too tall have been hitting the covered part all the time. It’s kind of amazing since you have to stop before going through it to make sure no one else is coming the other way. It’s only there to be quaint and for visitor photo ops really. It might save someone 1 minute going that direction vs taking another route out of town. But GPS maps probably shows it as the quickest route out, so new delivery guys head that direction. I might have to pop over there and buy a cigar. It’s only 25 minutes from my house. 

[riderpride]

This bridge is a mere 8ft 6in - you'd think it would be pretty simple to figure you're over at such a low height. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Parker_Coffin_Bridge

It reminds me of 'The Canopener' in Durham, NC. This one's 11ft8in and the road was later lowered an additional 8 inches in 2019, but this bridge is comedic gold. They also added a set of lights with an overheight sign to alert truckers, but it's made little difference. 

https://11foot8.com/

Hey kids, dad's in a mood for the rest of the trip 😆 

 

Cheers