Dinner and drinks on Nov. 13 in downtown Hopkinsville will be more like a progressive meal when four restaurants, the public library and Hopkinsville Brewing Company host up to 150 people for a Saturday night on the town.
Tickets are being sold in advance — $150 for a couple or $80 for a single — for the Drop-In Dinner. All of the guests will meet up between noon and 3:30 p.m. at the brewery before heading out at 4 p.m. to have a signature drink and appetizers at each of three restaurants — The Mixer, Main Street Tavern and The Local.
The progressive meal will conclude at the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library for desserts from The Corner Coffeehouse.
The event is called the Drop-In Dinner because the profits will help the library buy a new outdoor drop box that patrons use to return books after hours. The current drop box is rusting and needs to be replaced, said brewery co-owner Kate Russell.
Organizers hope the reason for the event, plus the opportunity to sample food from several restaurants, will attract diners. The library estimates a new drop box will cost about $6,000.
“It makes a lot of sense when you know what it is for,” Russell told Hoptown Chronicle.
A secure drop box ensures more patrons return their books on time and it keeps the books in a dry, safe place until staff members can remove them.
Russell, who is a regular library patron in addition to serving on its board, recently learned first-hand that the deteriorating condition of the drop box can allow books to become wedged inside. Somehow, a few books she had returned were temporarily misplaced because of the state of the large metal container beside the library’s parking lot.
For the progressive meal, diners will be divided into three groups. A tour guide will keep each group on schedule so they can have a drink and appetizers at each restaurant before the entire group heads to the library for dessert.
Everyone who buys a ticket will receive a 16-ounce silicone cup that is branded for the evening.
Russell said the event serves a couple of purposes. It raises money for a project that benefits the community, and it gives more exposure to Hopkinsville’s unique, locally-owned restaurants.
“Every one of the restaurants is so different, so you’re not going to get the same experience at each one,” she said.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
