Dinner on First

Driven indoors for its past two outings, this year’s Dinner on First will likely return Friday to the outdoor venue where it first began: the scenic streetscape along First Avenue in Cullman’s Warehouse District.

Catered by Dyron’s Low Country restaurant and staffed by the All Steak (thanks to owner Dyron Powell’s recent investment in the iconic Cullman eatery), this year’s outdoor setting will feature all the rustic elegance that helped earn the Cullman Parks and Recreation-hosted event an innovation award, in its inaugural year, from the Alabama Recreation and Parks Association.

All 350 tickets to this year’s dinner already are sold out, but an afterparty under the nearby Festhalle will be open to the public, said park and rec development director Christy Turner.

“Anyone can come to the post-party, so if you weren’t able to get a ticket to the dinner this year, come join us afterward,” said Turner, adding that the afterparty should get going around 9 p.m. Friday. Mae’s Food Hall is catering both the 6 p.m. pre-party (for ticket holders only) and the afterparty.

As one of Cullman Park and Recreation’s signature annual fundraisers, this year’s Dinner on First will help raise money for the addition of a small new amphitheater at Art Park, which is located just west of Main Avenue. The idea, said Turner, is to add an intimate new venue where small-scale performances at the park can feel right at home.

“It’s going to be a great addition, and it’s being installed as part of the phase of Art Park improvements that we hope to have wrapped up sometime in the fall,” she said. “It will be a place where you can stage a small play or concert, or hold poetry readings — really any type of small performance. With the other improvements we’re making at the park, it’s going to have a nice, unique feel that’s really distinct from any of our other parks.”

If you’ve got tickets and are planning to attend, forecasters seem all but certain that Friday’s 6 p.m. start time (for the pre-party) and 7 p.m. dinner start won’t be pushed until Saturday because of rain. With clear skies and mild temperatures expected Friday, the fourth installment of Dinner on First should look a whole lot like the 2016 version that launched the annual series in the first place.

“We’re very excited about being back out in the street again,” said Turner. “It’s the first time in two years that we’ve been able to do that. But no matter where we’ve hosted it, everyone who shows up just loves it. It’s the kind of thing that just hooks you. You go to Dinner on First that very first time — and then it’s something you look forward to, year after year.”