The Thursday open mic at Two Rivers Cider is growing quickly. The venue has literally set the stage to become a favorite for performers. The recent expansion of the site opened up this opportunity.
The Two Rivers Cider taproom is this bandit’s favorite watering hole. So when they decided to takeover their neighboring space and expand, I knew they were taking some risk before the pandemic had wrapped up and hoped that it would pay off for them. The new space is a large warehouse with ample room for all kinds of events and adds dearly needed indoor area. It has been outfitted with an attractive stage and a quality sound system.
The stage is a strong draw for performers. The red curtain backdrop with the Two Rivers Cider logo in lights conjures the aura of an esteemed theater that fills the room and is easily captured on camera. The sound system saturates the room and overrides chatter from the crowd. No hushed attention needed here to appreciate the performers.
The weekly event began late last year by Austin Blanchard on Tuesdays. It started to become popular, but the chill of winter set in along with a covid surge. It got rescheduled to Thursdays due to reduced taproom hours, and the event host changed along with that. Todd Perez and Autumn Sky Hall have been hosting since. Currently, the event seems settled in and this week had the largest turnout I’ve seen.
The event starts with typical open mic sign-ups and ends with a featured act who gets to hold the stage for a much longer set, over half an hour. This week had more sign-ups than usual and some performers were cut-off when it came time for the featured act. I expect there will be a limited number of sign-up slots or shorter time allowances going forward. So show up early to secure time on that gorgeous stage!
Three Armed Bandit 