Beer, bacon and bourbon can make for a pretty powerful combination.
Al and Dawn Emerick think they’ve figured out a way to make it even more so.
The couple will turn a barge into a floating events venue, launching June 5 at Friendship Park.
The event, called “Beer, Bacon and Bourbon” will include activities on land and on the barge, connected by a walkway.
Al Emerick said the concept of the marriage of land and sea is new to Northeast Florida.
“Most people stand on land and appreciate the river or they sit on a boat and appreciate the river and the land,” Emerick said. “We’re giving people, for the first time, a chance to interact between water and land.”
A second event is planned for September or October near the Shipyards and Metro Park.
Long-term, the couple wants to make the concept a business called The Barge, offering a series of events from ice skating to a beach on the barge, as well as partnering with large-scale events.
Their vision also takes them outside Jacksonville, including to markets like Boston, Charleston, New Orleans and Savannah.
While the Emericks have funded their dream so far, they have partners who have helped early on.
Content Design Group created the renderings distributed Thursday when the venture was announced at a news conference on the Southbank Riverwalk. Station Four built the webpage.
Emerick said he also hopes the city will eventually be a partner, though he knows the battle for taxpayer incentive dollars is tough.
“We provide a very unique approach in what we’re doing,” he said. “As such, a unique consideration for funding is probably applicable.”
For the June 5 event, Emerick said Friendship Park will become Bacon Street, where local restaurants will offer samples of bacon dishes.
The barge will be the site of a bourbon tasting, VIP lounge and live music.
The beer part of the name comes from the River City Brewing Co. hosting a brew deck and other activities.
Details are being finalized on that part of the event, he said.
Tickets should go on sale at the end of March or beginning of April. Prices haven’t been finalized.
Emerick said he and his wife had been thinking about what they could do in Downtown that would be “fun and neat and an economic driver.”
They’d always dreamed of owning a bar, he said, but that became a little less appealing as they got older.
The idea for the concept came to Dawn Emerick as she saw the space in front of Friendship Park as the two were jogging over the Acosta bridge.
They’ve been researching the concept for the past nine months. The final month of that time period has been while the Emericks were among the residents of Riverwalk Townhomes at The Plaza left without power after the Feb. 1 collapse of Liberty Street. They moved from the townhome this week, just as the power was restored Tuesday.
Emerick said the issue slowed them down, but it also forced them to decide how badly they wanted to pursue the concept.
“There’s no doubt it literally took the wind out of our sails for a while,” he said. “But it didn’t take us off the water.”
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