Madison Rupert, a junior at MCHS, drives past the building of Happy Jack’s. Madison notices the “Now Open” sign in front of the building. Excitedly, she decides to pull into a parking spot and see what changes have been made to the beloved store in the past year since it was closed.

After a long year, Happy Jack’s, a staple attraction of McHenry, has opened back up. According to its official Instagram account, the store opened in 1977.

Happy Jack’s has been a key memory-making spot for many residents of McHenry in the past 50 years since it was opened.

According to Rupert, her favorite memories at Happy Jack’s occurred during her childhood, when she would go there for ice cream after softball games.

“I’ve just always gone there since I was little,” Rupert says, “and it’s really good.”

To the people of McHenry who loved Happy Jack’s, the news of its becoming seasonal was extremely upsetting.

Unexpectedly, owners Lisa Brown and John Kitsos confirm that their store is not seasonal and expect to extend their daily hours soon.

“We’re open year-round now,” Owner, Lisa Brown says. “Right now we’re just open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and we’re going to extend those hours, probably in a couple weeks, to 6 p.m. … In the summer, we’ll be open until 8 p.m.”

As for changes that have been made to the diner, Happy Jack’s has partnered with Don’s Subs. This means that the store has a collaborative menu, containing the same grill items and offering new sub sandwiches.

“Joining together has been really good,” Brown says. “It’s been a great thing for the customers.”

Although the menu is different, the owners decided that it is important to keep the original environment of the half-century old diner.

“We tried to keep the same old stuff from Happy Jack’s,” Brown says. “We wanted to keep it going.”