Jam Band Party for Iron Springs' Birthday

Mike Altman and his wife, Anne Dubinsky Altman, showed up in Fairfax seven years ago straight from Colorado with the intent on giving a new image to the town’s brewpub. The Ross Valley Brewing Company at Fair-Anselm Plaza made some good beer and some good food, but the feel of the place — cool, steely and fairly expensive — just wasn’t a good fit with the community.

Nothing a big throw rug and some tie-dye couldn’t fix.

The Altmans transformed the place and turned it into , which reached its seventh birthday Saturday to much fanfare.

Mike Altman, sporting a Riddler costume, waited tables and served up hugs to his most loyal customers. Jam bands ALO (day shift) and MoonAlice (night shift) transfixed the patrons as bartenders poured pint after pint of housemade ales.

"It was a great community-involved event that was a huge success," Altman said. "Much credit has to go to our incredible staff that did an amazing job providing that quality Iron Springs hospitality through out our busiest day in the history of the pub."

Iron Springs has a Give Back Tuesdays program that has averaged more than  $15,000 a year in donations to such nonprofit causes as the YES Foundation, the Drake High mountain biking team, the Marin Community Food Bank, Bread & Roses, Adopt-a-Family of Marin, the Point Reyes Seashore Association and Conservation Corps North Bay.

"We want to thank the community for their support these past seven years," Altman said. "We feel so fortunate to have found a community as amazing as this one and we look forward to many, many more years of being the community-based establishment we have become known for."