Six Alley restaurants unite for SPCA

Restaurants in The Alley are joining forces this week to celebrate the dog days of summer with the first Alley Fest.

Organized by the owners of The Alley's six restaurants, the event is a benefit for the Aiken SPCA and is a joint effort of Up Your Alley, Papa Russ's BBQ, West Side Bowery, Davor's Cafe, Aiken Brewing Company and Takosushi.

SPCA volunteers will man the entrances to The Alley from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday selling Alley Fest admission wristbands for $2, in different colors for minors and adults.

Adults with a wristband can carry open containers on the festival grounds from a Budweiser beer tent that will be set up in The Alley, courtesy of AB Beverage Company.

"This is going to be, we hope, the first of four or five events like this a year, each for a different charity," said Russ Richardson, owner of Papa Russ's BBQ. "We're happy to be downtown and trying to create interest in being downtown. All the restaurants in The Alley like the SPCA - there's something about this community and its animals - so it was a natural choice."

Each participating restaurant has contributed a $20 gift certificate as a "door prize," and drawings for the gift certificates will be held throughout the evening.

In addition to good food and drink, Alley Fest will also feature live music courtesy of local classic-rock band Defiance, who will play on the Municipal Building patio during the event. This will be Defiance's first gig together since their reunion concert in May, according to lead vocalist Andrew Pajet.

"We were a band back in the early 1980s - 1981 to 1985, maybe - and we played all over Aiken. We were all in our teens, starting when we were about 16, and we had a pretty strong following," Pajet said. "It was me as lead singer, Greg Beaver on guitar, John Davis on guitar, David Beatty on bass guitar and Marty Brittain on drums."

Pajet moved back to Aiken two years ago and got back in touch with the band members.

"Marty was our second drummer. Our first drummer couldn't keep on with it because of health problems, but it was his wife who suggested we get the band back together," he said. "She pointed out we had a lot of friends we'd kept up with through Facebook, and she put a notice up on her Facebook page to see if there was any interest in a reunion. The response was overwhelming; it was almost like having a high school reunion."

Defiance decided to keep going after the reunion show and see what developed. At the reunion concert was Davor's Cafe owner Heidi Sklizovic, who recruited the band for Alley Fest.

"She said, if you guys can get half the crowd you've got at this show, it'll be a great thing for everybody," Pajet said. "We've already had some people tell us they're coming to Alley Fest because they missed the other show."

For more information about Alley Fest, call Papa Russ's BBQ at 641-0103 or West Side Bowery at 648-2900.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.