Pow Wow to reopen in early July under new owners

The Pow Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge apparently won’t stay closed for long.

Tucumcari resident Christopher Arias said he and his wife Tori completed the purchase of the local icon on Sunday, and they tentatively plan to reopen it on July 7.

Previous owner Todd Duplantis closed the Pow Wow shortly after Mother’s Day. He bought the business at 801 W. Route 66 Blvd. in January 2022.

Duplantis opened Stone’s Pizza Grill in Logan shortly after shuttering the Pow Wow.

Arias said in a phone interview Sunday he wants the restaurant and bar reopen “within the next two weeks,” adding he wants to take advantage of the remainder of Route 66 tourism traffic this summer.

Arias posted on social media Sunday afternoon about the restaurant-lounge’s imminent reopening.

He said the establishment will sport a trimmed-down name — simply The Pow Wow Lounge — and a trimmed-down menu “to complement” the bar. He said he and his wife will be “hands on” owners.

Arias said the restaurant’s meeting rooms will continue to be available to local organizations, as usual.

Arias said the acquisition of the Pow Wow had been “in the making for a little while,” later clarifying it was over about a two-month period.

He did not disclose a purchase price.

“The Pow Wow has been a Tucumcari icon for decades,” he explained the purchase. “We want to do our part to keep Tucumcari thriving. We just want to make sure the legend continues.”

He said the Pow Wow will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, with expanded hours on the weekends.

Arias is human relations director for Eastern Plains Community Action Agency in Tucumcari, and he said he would remain in that role for the time being. He also is a Tucumcari city commissioner.

One thing on his to-do list is to repair the thunderbird neon sign that prominently trumpets the restaurant and lounge. The sign’s neon tubing was damaged by the May 25 hailstorm.

“We want to keep the neon going on Route 66,” he said.

The Pow Wow was the creation of Bettie Ditto, who had inherited the nine-room Lins Motor Lodge in 1955 and expanded it into the 90-room Pow Wow hotel and restaurant complex. It became a popular Route 66 stop.

Ditto died in 2008 of acute leukemia at a hospital in Amarillo. She was 91.

The adjacent Pow Wow Inn motel is owned and run by a different ownership group.