Vines & Hops, the cafe that opened across from the Suffolk Theater just over a year ago, is having a fundraiser Saturday night to help keep its doors open.
Jeff McKay, who opened the wine and beer cafe last September, said he’s still struggling to recover from last year’s long, frigid winter — a winter that wouldn’t quit.
“There was a problem for three months in the spring coming out of the slow winter that really kind of snowballed, so now we’re just digging out of a hole,” said McKay, who attributed slower business during warmer months to consumers spending most of their time near beach destinations.
“We’re still paying bills from April, May and June; we’re trying to desperately catch up and somehow to get ahead.”
Saturday’s fundraiser, with a suggested donation of a $10 cover, starts at 8 p.m. It was organized by the manager of slide guitar master Kerry Kearney, whom McKay had originally hired to perform at Vines & Hops this fall.
“We really fell behind and didn’t think we were going to still be open, so I had to call and cancel him,” McKay said of the genesis for this weekend’s fundraising event. “His manager, Ann Sullivan, put this fundraiser together to help try to get us back on our feet because we we’ve just been going week-to-week.”
The Kerry Kearney Band will be joined by Ken “The Rocket” Korb, Casey “The Cigar Box Kid” Baron and Rob “Going to Memphis” Europe, as well as Rob Bruey and Annika. The event will also feature a 50/50 raffle and a raffled ukelele signed by the event’s musicians.
“A night like this Saturday will really help because it’s not been a good situation down here at all,” McKay said.
“Downtown isn’t what we thought it would be and it’s becoming extremely difficult down here to be a mom-and-pop operation when you’re one of the only businesses on Main Street that’s open after 5 p.m.,” he said. “We’re a part of downtown, but we still think we’re on an island by ourselves. It’s not the typical Main Street where businesses feed off each other and grow economically that way; we don’t have that down here at all.
“We thought we would be able to feed off the theater and the gym but it hasn’t really turned out that way, so on Friday nights we’re adding a DJ to create more of a club atmosphere and get the 20s and 30s in here because that’s what we need.”
Vines and Hops is located at 127 East Main Street.
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