HUNTSVILLE — Not much has changed since The Shooting Star Saloon in Huntsville opened in 1879. A few owners have come and gone, the beer has changed with popular demand, but overall, it has remained the same.

A ceiling tattered with money, a stuffed dog and several unusual stories to entertain a wandering stranger for hours are as synonymous to the Shooting Star as the Star Burger.

According to folklore, the Star Burger made its debut when a bartender was throwing out a crockpot of knockwurst and one of the many barflies said something along the lines of, “Wait, put one of those on my burger.”

The current Star Burger is a knockwurst squeezed between two beef patties, grilled onions, melted cheese, lettuce and tomato, served on a grilled bun. It is also complemented by potato chips, fresh out of the bag.

If you’re lucky you may even enjoy your burger under a Saint Bernard of world record proportions.

“Buck weighed 298 pounds and was as tall as our bar at the shoulder when he died in 1957,” said Julie Christensen, the apparel manager at the Star. “He was so large they had to use a Grizzly mount, which is why his nose is elongated and his forehead pushed back.”He is mounted over one of the several red leather booths along the west wall. Opposing the booths are an old jukebox, several branded bar stools, and deeper into the saloon is a lone pool table.

Beyond the back doors is a patio with picnic tables and a silver and blue camper trailer. There is also a Corgi Crossing sign.

On busy days, there are two waitrons, one inside manning the bar, and other out back on the patio.

Christensen said they get busy, especially now that they do wing night during Monday Night Football.

General manager Val Stoker said the wing sauce is his secret weapon. He’s been making the same sauce for several decades.

Besides the introduction of wing day, the only major (if you can call it that) change to the saloon happened last fall.

Between the busy seasons of summer and winter, Christensen took down all the ornaments, dusted them, and scrubbed the walls.

She said she doesn’t like to sit still, but the three weeks it took her to scrub the walls is a testament to the age of the bar. Who knows when the last time the place had a good wash.

Watching the Eagles/Chargers football game a few Sundays back, a biker from Morgan, who declined to give his name other than the moniker “Gorgeous,” which the bartender gave him, said he had noticed the difference. And in fact, he now makes it a point to bike to Huntsville to enjoy a draft more often than not.

The waitresses are sassy, teasing their patrons with nicknames and, of course, telling tall tales.

Christensen even has ghost stories. She said she routinely opens the front doors in the morning to find several of the lights blazing. She swears she turns them off.Stoker is quick to dismiss the stories, but he did say, “Yeah, I saw a ghost once.” But he refuses to elaborate.

The Shooting Star may be a saloon, but Stoker said it’s open to everyone. He said he has his Mormon regulars who come down and drain his root beer cooler.”I probably go through just as much root beer as I do beer,” he joked.

The stories are endless as, it is said, the longest continually running bar west of the Mississippi River continues its operation.

There are big tales and small.

One of the biggest tales happened during Prohibition.

The owner at the time, Oklen Olsen, refused to stop his operation. The sheriff at the time issued warnings and eventually arrested the man.

“He was a shrewd man,” said Stoker. “So when he was put in jail, his wife continued running the bar.”

His ornery behavior didn’t stop there. Once in jail he harassed the sheriff’s wife to the point she refused to feed him.

The sheriff was then faced with a dilemma — either starve Olsen or release him.

“They played that game until it was over with,” said Stoker.

The sheriff would arrest him and then release him through the length of Prohibition.

It seems strange that such a saloon would last in Utah, one that has stuffed dogs, ghosts and never ending tales. But then again, maybe that’s why it has survived. Kind of like a diamond in the rough, so to speak.