Curiosity Coffee Bar, located on North Main street, will be hosting their first show tonight to celebrate the progress the team has made on the renovations in the building. Guests can purchase food and beverages and enjoy a couple bands from around the Carolinas with no admission fee.
Scene SC got to chat with the owners of Curiosity Coffee Bar, Greg and Sandra, about their plans with the new stage.
“We want our space to be inclusive and diverse and maintain the neighborhood vibe we’ve created over the last year and a half.”
The couple says they have been involved in Columbia’s music community for about a decade, with Greg being a part of the music scene since 2005 and the two of them promoting events since 2009. In April of 2017, they opened Curiosity Coffee Bar, and from there it was only a matter of time before they were back to contributing to local music.
“We built the stage ourselves with help from friends and used the sound equipment we’ve had for years doing events at Hopscotch and SXSW.”
The bands tonight will include Boomtown Waifs, a Columbia-native Indie folk meets Americana group that includes Kristen Harris on fiddle and vocals and former Curiosity Coffee Bar employee Kelley McCulloch McLachlan on guitar and vocals. Also performing tonight will be Saints Sinners and Saints, an Americana bluegrass group from Charlotte North Carolina, who Greg and Sandra frequently work with.
Curiosity Coffee Bar will offer bottled, canned, and draft beers along with red or white wine and sake cocktails. The regular menu of a variety of sweet and savory pastries will be available for purchase as well.
“We are looking to host bands, songwriters, hip-hop artists, as well as comedy and talks or educational lectures in the space,” says Greg and Sandra, who have already lined up a concert on the October 20th that will include Marshall Brown and The Affectionates along with a weekly comedy event on Sundays that will begin on the 28th of October. Plans to host a Belgian Birthday Bash on November 2nd are beign made as well, which will include fun specials to celebrate the fourth birthday of the Belgian Waffle Truck.
“We aren’t looking to have events just for the sake of having events but curating special nights.”