Albertina Wassenhove has been running her family’s business, the Midway Tavern in Mishawaka, Indiana, continuously since 1990. Her parents purchased the club in 1924, and Wassenhove grew up with the club as part of her life. She turns 90 years young at the end of 2017, and continues to operate the Midway and book its talent, featuring live blues music on the weekends. The signatures of Pinetop Perkins, Yank Rachell, Rod and Honey Piazza, Kim Wilson, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, and others remain among the masses collected over the years on the smoke-stained yellow walls that frame the stage. Wassenhove has featured local and touring bands such as Rockin’ Johnny Burgin, Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones, Deanna Bogart, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bruce Katz, Mick Kolassa, Bryan Lee, Nick Moss, John Németh, John Primer, Jason Ricci, Brandon Santini, and Victor Wainwright, among many others. She continues to travel to festivals all over the country to find the next great artist to feature at the Midway. The musicians who have played the club have great love and respect for Wassenhove, as her priority has always been love of the blues over financial benefit, and she treats patrons and musicians alike the way she would like to be treated.
Albertina passed away at the age of 93 in March 2021.