Homer’s Barbecue at 128 Second St. announced Saturday that it is transforming its adjacent parking lot into an outdoor hangout space.
Over the next few weeks, a concrete patio will be poured, a large artificial turf area will be installed in the middle and shade sails will be installed to keep the area shaded and cool, Homer’s reported in a Facebook post.
“The finished space will be family-friendly and full of fun—with yard games, a stage for live music, lounge seating, and room for private parties and events,” according to the post.
A rendering it posted shows Adirondack chairs and stools with high-top tables around an artificial turf area equipped with cornhole boards. It also showed café lights and planters.
“Obviously it will be a really cool space,” Casey Todd, owner of parent company Hometown Hospitality, told the Hendersonian on Saturday.
Todd hopes to rent it as an event venue. “We think (it can accommodate) 100 to 125 people (as) an outdoor venue —wedding receptions, weddings, high school reunions,” with food and beverage catering available from Homer’s, he said.
“(Excavation contractor) Logan Tompkins (and landscaping contractor) Rodger Brown have been very instrumental in the project as well,” Todd said. Completion is expected in four to five weeks.
For the debut event, The Sellouts band has been booked to perform on Saturday, Aug. 23.
“We kind of pride ourselves as music scene for the community, and we want to elevate that music scene,” offering early-evening entertainment while On Deck down the block offers later entertainment.
As for the inspiration, “It really kind started with a catering conference in Austin, Texas,” Todd said. “We took the crew down there. Literally, Texas is very hot, but they will take any space and convert it to outdoor space. Lots of Astroturf, shade sails, umbrellas in all these cool little spaces, really interactive outdoor spaces. Then we started noticing them everywhere, such as in Nashville, Louisville and Indianapolis.
“It’s kind of a wild idea that we kind pulled together,” he said.
Todd said he believes the city will stripe new diagonal parking spaces on Second Street where the entrance to the park lot has been. There appears to be space for five or six parking spaces, nearly as many as the former parking lot provided.
This won’t mark the first time that space has been dedicated to recreational use. In May 1930, the lighted, 18-hole Tom Thumb Miniature Golf Course opened on that site, according to an advertisement in The Gleaner.
But it was not long lived; by early 1933, the site was a vacant lot. Classified ads in the spring of 1937 announced the opening of Stanley’s Parking Lot on Second Street between Main and Water streets, which was likely at that site. A 1956 Sanborn fire insurance map shows a parking lot on that site with an attendant’s booth beside the entrance to the property.
