Lee Pulaski lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Dinner plans are already made for Thursday as the Shawano Business Improvement District will hold “The Main Event” restaurant dine-around to raise money for its facade improvement projects.
Eight restaurants on or near Main Street will serve up a variety of foods from 5-8:30 p.m. for hungry guests and provide an idea of the wide variety of dining selections in downtown Shawano. The evening will wrap up with a raffle at Tom’s Tap at 8:45 p.m.
The Main Event had previously been done by Leadership Shawano County in 2011 and 2012, but the activity has been on hiatus since then. The BID saw the restaurant hop as a good opportunity to raise money and awareness of the downtown area, according to BID coordinator Marisa Rycroft.
“We thought it would be nice to bring it back, to resurrect it,” Rycroft said.
Visitors will be able to sample soup at Farm Inn, beef sandwiches at Tom’s Tap, candy at Old Glory Candy Shop and fresh marinated shrimp with pasta and vegetables at Anew Tea Emporium. There will also be pastries from Luigi’s, chicken alfredo from Angie’s Main Cafe, salad from Lizzie’s Catering and pulled pork loaded French fries at Bubba’s BBQ Co.
“It’s a round robin of dining, just like when you do a house hop,” Rycroft said. “They’ll go from restaurant to restaurant and get a portion from each restaurant. It probably won’t be a large portion, because when you go to eight different restaurants, you don’t want large meals at each restaurants.”
The dine-around is expected to benefit non-food businesses in the downtown area as well. The $15 admission provides visitors with a booklet that includes 22 discount coupons for various items, Rycroft said.
Rycroft hopes to get more restaurants involved next year to keep the event fresh. There are 14 restaurants that are part of the district, according to information on the BID’s website.