Opelika Main Street is having their 18th biannual On The Tracks food and wine event Oct. 10. Opelika Main Street holds this event to raise funds and promote the local businesses in the Auburn and Opelika area.
The streets will come alive with music, wine tastings and restaurants serving their best dishes.
The idea of the event is for people to enjoy the local food and wine options Opelika has to offer.
One of the companies participating in On The Tracks is Southern Crossing.
"It's just a generic gift store, I'd say," said Kathy Tenton, owner of Southern Crossing. "We can get your wedding present, your baby present, your graduation present, your birthday present. You name it, we got it."
Businesses will serve whatever wine is assigned to them, along with cheese straws and several kinds of dip. Tenton said Southern Crossing has been participating in On The Tracks since it started.
"They try to do red, white, red, white, so you don't have all red on one street," Tenton said. "It's always a fun night for us."
Uncle Sweetheart & The Salem Two, Sylvia Rose, The Roof Runners, The Acrostics and Brittany Avery will perform live music.
"It is different than a lot of other events," said Pam Powers-Smith, director of Opelika Main Street. "It's just a laid-back, cool night where you can hang out, eat food, drink wine, visit with your friends and make new friends. It's really just kind of a nice night to be outside."
Powers-Smith said the city started doing the event once a year, but had to switch to twice a year because people loved it so much.
"Not only did we want to have just an event, we wanted for people to take the opportunity to actually go inside each of our businesses," Powers-Smith said. "A lot of people may drive through, but they really don't know what every store has."
Fringe, a women's consignment store, is another business on the route.
Stacie Money, owner of Fringe, said they've been in downtown Opelika for 10 years, and they have participated in On The Tracks every year.
"It's always a success, it's a huge, big deal for downtown," Money said. "Not only is it a big night, but even the whole weekend is a big weekend."
Tables can be purchased for groups or businesses of up to 10 people for $350. This also includes a tent set up over the table.
Regular tickets are $25.
"Tables really are kind of the way to go, because there's nowhere else to sit down," Powers-Smith said.
A map comes with the tickets so guests can see which stores are participating in the event.
"Downtown Opelika has grown hugely in the past six or seven years," Money said. "We have new people come in and learn about downtown and learn about the store, and that's always fun."
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