DORA: Uptown Westerville adds days, businesses to Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area mix
Westerville’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area is in operation every day and has expanded its reach.
Becoming effective May 16, the DORA's new business hours are from 4 to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends, with the addition of Sundays.
Rob Rishel, Westerville's economic development coordinator, said to the north, the expansion affects only the east side of State Street. The boundary was at Home Street at Rotary Park, but now extends north to encompass Birdie Books & Café, which has a liquor license.
To the south, he said, the boundary has extended from Park Street down to the Stoner House, encompassing Northstar Café, 109 S. State Street, which requested to be part of the DORA. The border on the east side remains at Winter Street.
Nick Brubaker, Northstar Café bartender, said the adult beverages are an accessory to Northstar’s good food and atmosphere.
“They can take our drinks to go and enjoy uptown Westerville, which is great,” he said. “They can stroll, enjoy the sun.”
Brubaker said popular cocktails include the ginger mojito (rum, mint, lime and organic cane sugar) and vodka buck (watershed vodka, ginger and lime).
Barrel & Boar Westerville's general manager Amanda Clark said she’s excited about DORA's expanded days of operation.
“A lot of guests come in and ask if they can take a DORA cup out, especially if it’s a beautiful day like today (May 16),” she said.
“With the new expansion, they can get it any day. It will be great for the summer. It’s really great for Fourth Fridays. We do adult slushies. That’s really fun to put in a DORA cup and walk around on a hot day. It’s really fun to see people walking around with your drinks and taking pictures with your cocktail.”
In addition to pineapple upside-down cake, orangesicle and strawberry shortcake slushies, Clark said blackberry mint, blueberry and cranberry rosemary mules are popular.
Clark said the DORA has brought in a lot of people to the business at 8 N. State Street who have never visited before.
“They get to see how cool this building is, and then, they come back for dinner because they stopped in and because they were hopping around getting DORA drinks on a Fourth Friday,” she said.
“It has been really great. I’ve heard from other places too that they have been doing really with it. I haven’t had any issues. I love it.”
David Lilley, a retired Blendon Township police officer, said he made a point to bring his friend Tom Ullom, a retired Westerville firefighter, to celebrate the expanded DORA.
“What’s so neat about Westerville now is that it’s alive, and it has people coming to uptown and spending money and having a good time,” Lilley said.
“It’s a wonderful atmosphere. There was a restaurant called Pasquale’s right here (in uptown). We couldn’t have a glass of wine with our Italian meal. I said it just didn’t seem right. Westerville lost thousands of dollars over the years because people want an adult beverage with their meal. You had to leave town to do that.”
He said he purposefully brought Ullom to uptown because it marked the first night the DORA was available on a Monday.
The friends started at Old Bag of Nails, 24 N. State Street, and ended across the street on the patio of Jimmy V’s Grill & Pub, 1 S. State St.
For more information about the DORA, visit online at westerville.org.
mkuhlman@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekMarla
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Uptown Westerville adds days, businesses to DORA mix
