March 11, 2025

Shenanigans Sports Bar & Grill is ready to start serving downtown diners.

After a couple of invite-only events to start the week, the sports bar officially will open for business at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

It’s located on the boardwalk of The Cascade, 701 N. Phillips Ave., in the former Papa Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza space.

Shenanigans also has a location at 1903 S. Ellis Road that changed hands last year and now is owned by Paul Ode. Ode and his family are involved in a number of restaurants, including Crawford’s and Wagoo Burger in downtown Sioux Falls, along with another concept coming to 202 S. Phillips Ave.

“We had a bit of work to do (in the downtown space) but nothing crazy,” Ode said. ” We redid the whole bar back, demo’ed some half-walls, so it was a bit of work, but there’s much space so we just opened it up.”

The menu is about 80 percent of what’s available at the Ellis Road location and is focused on the top sellers. Diners will find a variety of appetizers; classic and boneless wings with one dozen sauce options; beef, chicken and prime rib sliders; wraps; burgers; sandwiches; salads; flatbreads; pizzas; and pastas.

The bar has a full liquor license.

The restaurant is fully staffed, “and we have been training on the menu on the west side, so when they came down here, they already knew what’s up,” Ode said.

The patio already has furniture out and will be available for outdoor seating whenever the weather allows.

Feedback from the downtown area has “been extremely positive,” Ode said. “I think a lot of people are excited for a specific sports bar downtown, and I think the draw for the neighborhood and the people working around here has been just crazy (based on) the feedback. We’re pretty excited.”

Shenanigans long has been known as a place for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, which will expand this year on Saturday, March 15.

The downtown location will have “a full-day agenda” for Saturday’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Ode added.

“We’re doing a bus going back and forth between here and the west side, and then we’ll have several bands and different things all day on both sides.”

The shuttle will run every half-hour  beginning at 9 a.m.

Hours for Shenanigans downtown will be 11 a.m. to midnight daily.