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Main Street Lorain announces Lorain Cocktail Week for Feb. 5-11

A round of signature cocktails is coming to downtown Lorain for the first full week of February.

Max Schaefer, executive director of Main Street Lorain, officially announced Jan. 7 that Lorain Cocktail Week will take place and about 10 restaurants and bars around the downtown area will participate.

This year will mark Main Street Lorain’s first attempt at hosting cocktail week, according to Schaefer, who has high hopes for the week-long event.

The original idea for Lorain Cocktail Week was to host a community event during the long winter months, he said.

“Our thought was, we wanted to bring some programming excitement, highlight our downtown in the winter months,” Schaefer said. “After talking to a number of our restaurants and bars, they had suggested more winter, cold weather events and programming.”

Schaefer said the event’s lineup is not quite set in stone just yet.

However, the central concept will allow Lorainites to sample a number of signature, limited-time cocktails, he said.

“We want to keep it simple and build that strong foundation,” Schaefer said of the event. “We’re asking each of our restaurants to create a signature cocktail that will only be offered for this one week.”

The special drinks could be a new creation, a modification on an old classic or a preview of a spring or summer menu mainstay.

Schaefer said reception from participating restaurants so far has been positive, as bars gear up for the event come February.

He added that Lorain businesses are eager to showcase their best drinks for customers.

“I think it also just highlights the vibrancy of the community,” Schaefer said. “It’s a program for residents (and) for visitors.

“We’re going to promote this out across Northeast Ohio and try to get as many folks into downtown Lorain to experience our businesses as possible.”

The event most likely will offer non alcoholic options, such as mocktails or espresso creations from local coffee shops, Schaefer said.

Kurt Hernon, co-owner of Lorain Cocktail Week participating bar Speak of the Devil, 201 W. Fifth St. in downtown Lorain, expressed his excitement for the event.

Coinciding with Speak of the Devil’s “Tiki Week” event in February, the bar will have a selection of premium signature cocktails ready for the cocktail week event.

“We’ve done (Tiki Week) since we opened, so we’ll feature one with Main Street, but we’ll probably have a menu of four new tiki cocktails just for that week alone,” Hernon said. “It’s cool to feature what people are doing, where they can get a drink, and hopefully, allow for some creativity.”

Lorain Cocktail Week will take place from Feb. 5-11.

The lineup of restaurants and bars will be available on the Main Street Lorain Facebook page as soon as it is finalized.