By Staff
SELLING MEMORIES Zexa Alman prepares items to be sold in the Feb. 15 and 16 public sale of Weidmann's memorabilia, including the famous peanut butter jars. The sale will be from 7 a.m. to 5 p. m. both days. Photo by Paula Merritt / The Meridian Star
By Fredie Carmichael/staff writer
Jan. 31, 2002
Zexa Alman and her husband enjoyed their first dinner at Weidmann's more than 50 years ago a time when the historic downtown restaurant was was open and thriving.
For the past two weeks, though, it hasn't been the food or the service that brought Alman back to the landmark. It's her job she is preparing for the sale of memorabilia from the closed restaurant.
Alman and Beth Land, a certified personal property appraiser, have been busy pricing memorabilia from the restaurant. The items will be offered at a public sale set for Feb. 15 and 16.
The two were chosen by Weidmann's Square LLC to appraise the restaurant's inventory.
Weidmann's Square, a group of local investors, bought the 131-year-old restaurant last year. The group is renovating the restaurant and plans to re-open it sometime this summer.
Bruce Martin, one of the chief sponsors of Weidmann's Square, said the money from the sale of memorabilia will go toward renovation costs.
Some of the items to be sold include restaurant menus, antique dishes, dinner tables and two sectioned pieces of the original lunch counter. Also up for grabs: the famous peanut butter jars.
Land called it a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity for people to shop at the public sale, which will be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Alman said the famous peanut butter jars, which sat on top of all dinner tables, will likely be the first items sold. Alman said that "everybody wants to know about the peanut butter jars."