Perry Restaurant Week kicks off in full swing

Excitement filled the air while busy restaurant employees set the displays on their designated tables for the VIP guests at the Perry Restaurant Week Preview Night at Southern Bridle Farms this past Thursday evening. Eight of the 15 restaurants from around Perry participating in the city’s Restaurant Week had the opportunity to showcase some of their favorite options to many Chamber members and their guests.

Locals are familiar with the annual The Taste of Southern event, which normally kicked off the holidays in the beginning of December at the Perry Fairgrounds. Hundreds of people would come out and taste food from all types of restaurants and enjoy each other’s company while doing so. With the ever-present threat of COVID-19, Chamber officials decided that was not an option this year. However, they still wanted to be able to showcase the incredible and hardworking restaurants of the town.

President and CEO for the Perry Chamber of Commerce Ellen Palmer talked about the new and exciting Perry Restaurant Week. “This is a new event that we’re doing. The restaurants have been hit so hard this year, we [decided] we need to be drawing business to them.”

The Perry Chamber of Commerce observed what restaurant weeks in other cities looked like and agreed that it’s been very successful and something they also wanted to have a part of in their city as well.

“We feel like it’d be a good way to promote our restaurants [and] get people going to them,” Palmer stated. The Chamber and participating restaurants came up with a plan to provide a sort of specialty item or menu price while creating fun giveaway options for people that participate. “It’s incentivizing people to go eat at our local restaurants,” said Palmer. “Supporting local is just so important right now. I think it’s always great to see all of these businesses and community members coming together and just having fun and tasting all of the good, local food that we do have, finding something new that they didn’t know about or some new restaurant, and then [listening to] good music.”

The preview for Perry Restaurant Week was just the beginning of a 10-day celebration of local food. Matt Dixon, O.D. of Advanced Eyecare Center in Perry sponsored the event declaring, “I’m so glad to be a part of this.” Guests enjoyed specially prepared food from participating vendors and drinks while band, Big Brother’s Boombox, played through the night.

Amidst the chaos in which COVID-19 has thrown 2020, The Perry Chamber of Commerce took precautionary measures to keep their guests safe at Preview Night. Intentionally securing the Southern Bridle Farms venue of 10,000 square feet, plus outdoor space, the Chamber wanted to give the limited guest count of 100 people an option to socially distance. They encouraged masks, provided sanitation stations, and ensured all of the caterers of the night followed the correct CDC guidelines as far as serving the food. The guests appeared to enjoy and appreciate the hard work put into the night, and many said that they couldn’t wait to see what the Perry Restaurant Week will have in store. Seeing the positive support from the guests, Palmer went on to proudly state, “You know, I think right now we need to be able to have a little fun and a sense of community – and we have such that in Perry. It’s amazing the community we do have.”

Perry Restaurant week will last from November 6 to November 15 and is open to the general public. After trying out all of the different restaurants from fine dining to casual family fun, attendees can cast their vote for their favorite options or fill up their Frequent Foodie card with stamps to win special prizes. Each night, a different participating restaurant has a special event taking place. For more information, check out the website at https://www.perryrestaurantweek.com/ to see what each one has going on and for special offers.

Participating restaurants included: Bodega Brew, Casserole Shop, Clover Wine Merchant, Creekside Catfish & Caterers, Fruits of Vienna, Hazard’s on the Green, Houston Lake County Club, Lane Southern Orchards, Morning by Morning Coffee Company, Schultze’s Old Fashioned Soda Shop, Sonny’s BBQ, The Oil Lamp, The Perfect Pear, The Railroad Cafe, and The Swanson.

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