Friday will be the second "Dine-Out Downtown" event to be held in Hanford. Organizers see the event lasting until October. Photos via Main Street Hanford

Restaurants on Hanford’s Seventh Street are opening up by closing it down.

Friday marks the second time Seventh Street in the Kings County city will be closed so restaurants can serve food outdoors. And organizers are prepared to take the event into October — so long as the Governor’s office allows outdoor dining,

Michelle Brown, executive director with Main Street Hanford, whose organization puts on the event called Dine-Out Downtown, says she couldn’t put a number on attendance. But her and some of the restaurants participating found they had initially underestimated its drawing power.

 

Five restaurants along Hanford’s main street participated, including Zaytoona, Samurai Sam’s, El Torasco and Fatte Alberts Pizza Co. They served folks seated at socially distanced sets of tables on the street.

The Main Street Hanford team and a number of volunteers spent July 24 putting out signs letting people know the street would soon be closing. By 2 p.m. parking cones came out and by 4 p.m., the street was cleared.

Barricades were put in place by 5 p.m. and by 5:30 p.m., the first people were being seated.

The event went tremendously well, said Brian Alves, co-owner of Hop Forged Brewing, which opened last year. The only problem was they underestimated how many people would show up. Alves didn’t know how many brews he served, but it was enough that he’s knows he needs more people this Friday.

A few of the businesses agreed that without that night, sales would have been “quite bleak,” said Alves.

“With a business like ours, we provide an atmosphere for family and friends,” Alves said. “When you strip that from us, we have to compete with major beer brands for people staying at home.”