Hundreds of thousands of dollars unaccounted for: That’s the real reason behind the closing of Palmer’s Bar, an iconic live music venue and dive bar in Minneapolis. The first clues to this came in a late night Facebook update from the owners, Pat and Sarah Dwyer, who wrote: “When we bought Palmers, it was with a trusted partner that we had worked with for over 18 years. In 2022, we discovered that trust and partnership was broken, leaving Palmer’s in dire financial and operational straits.”
Photo by Darin Kamnetz
That partner was longtime Twin Cities musician Tony Zaccardi. Minnesota Monthly wrote about the partnership in a piece published in April of 2022, describing Dwyer as a “nearly silent partner.”
We searched court records and found a divorce filing from July 2023, where Zaccardi’s now ex-wife wrote that without her knowledge, Zaccardi “recently relinquished the parties’ marital interest” in Palmer’s Bar to the Dwyers, after he “withdrew more than $379,364 from [Palmer’s] business accounts and has not accounted to the petitioner concerning his use of said funds.”
There are no records of a criminal proceeding against Zaccardi, nor any civil action against him, that Minnesota Monthly has been able to locate.
Zaccardi has been telling his story of alcohol and cocaine addiction as a public health outreach specialist for the city of Minneapolis over the last two years. In this Facebook video, he talks about “losing friendships, relationships, I went through a divorce, I was losing people’s trust.” He says he’s been sober since September of 2022, ” I hit a rock bottom.” His work with the city was featured in The Minnesota Daily in April 2025: “Zaccardi said he is optimistic about the city’s changing attitude toward addiction, which focuses more on lived experience than in previous years. ‘I was hired on because they did a feature on me for my one year anniversary of sobriety,’ Zaccardi said. ‘We’re trying to help.'”
The Dwyers wrote on Facebook that they decided to try to forge on and dig the business out of the hole, however “due to the current economic environment, people’s changing drinking habits, and the challenges of losing so many other bars and businesses in our neighborhood, Palmer’s has been losing $10,000-$30,000 a month. The situation was no longer sustainable.”
We reached out to Pat Dwyer who declined to comment at this time. We also reached out to Zaccardi via the city’s health department this morning, and a spokesperson told us he was not available to talk about this. In the January 2025 video, Zaccardi said, “I have regrets, but I’m dealing with them with the help of my sponsor.”
Palmer’s Bar has been sold, according to Facebook. Dwyer said they tried to find another bar or restaurant industry owner, but the commercial real estate agent “approached many people in the bar and venue industry and the response from all was a unanimous ‘hard pass’. As we reached the end of our resources and still needed to sell… we finally accepted the the one and only offer we got—from our next door neighbors for a community space.”
Editor’s note: Minnesota Monthly is not alleging any criminal wrongdoing or liability on the part of Tony Zaccardi. No charges or civil claims have been filed as of publication, and all information referenced is drawn from public records and statements.
