Downtown Springdale Hosts 8th Annual Street Dinner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2024 

Contact: Jill Dabbs, Executive Director 

Downtown Springdale 

jill@downtownspringdale.org / (501) 425-0478 

Downtown Springdale Hosts 8th Annual Street Dinner on Saturday, June 8, 2024 

Springdale, AR – The Downtown Springdale Alliance is hosting its annual Street Dinner on Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale. This is the 8th year that the Downtown Springdale Alliance has hosted this sell out event which serves as the non-profit’s biggest fundraiser of the year and is presented by Milestone Construction Company.  

"Milestone Construction Company is thrilled to be part of the dinner and to support the continued revitalization of downtown Springdale. We want to be a part of the growth in downtown in as many ways as possible,” says Sam Hollis, CEO of Milestone Construction Company.  

Harps Food Stores is the Street Dinner’s Chef Sponsor. This year the dinner features two nationally recognized and award-winning chefs – Chef Jennifer Hill Booker and Chef Rafael Rios. “Harps is proud to support the upcoming Annual Street Dinner in the heart of Downtown Springdale. We believe in fostering community growth and vibrancy, and events like this showcase the heart of our city while supporting its future," says Sarah Thacker, Director of Advertising and Communications, Harps Food Stores, Inc.  

The Street Dinner takes place on Emma Avenue between Spring Street and Main Street – right in the heart of downtown Springdale. Guests can expect a cocktail hour and a 4-course meal inspired by and prepared by Chef Jennifer Hill Booker & Chef Rafael Rios. Cocktails begin at 6:30PM. Dinner will be served at 7PM.  

“We are so excited to invite the community to be part of our largest fundraiser of the year,” says Jill Dabbs, Executive Director of Downtown Springdale Alliance. “This dinner sustains our work. It supports our programming. It helps us keep the downtown a vibrant space. It supports the growth of new restaurants and shops. It makes new art possible.”  

Tickets are $100 per person. Tickets are on sale at downtownspringdale.org. All proceeds go to programming, like LIVE! at Turnbow, Art Walks, Monarch Flight Festival, Family Bike Nights and Ozarktober, that build a vibrant and thriving downtown Springdale.  

Please note: This is a rain or shine event. Tickets to this fundraiser are non-refundable. 

ABOUT THE CHEFS: 

Chef Jennifer Hill Booker, the chef and co-owner of Bauhaus Biergarten in downtown Springdale, has taken her Southern culinary heritage, her belief in healthy, seasonal foods and her classic French training to create Modern Southern Healthy Cuisine with a French Accent. A graduate of the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, Chef Jennifer trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. It was there she found the similarities between Southern and French cuisines. Chef Jennifer is an Impact Fellow with the James Beard Foundation, where she also sits on several boards. She has been featured on shows like Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen and HBO’s Family Dinner and in publications like Southern Living, Essence and Garden & Gun. She is the author of several cookbooks and illustrated children’s books. She is also the creator of the Your Resident Gourmet spice line, which includes Duck Duck Chicken Poultry Seasoning & Rub. More info at ChefJenniferHillBooker.com.  

Chef Rafael Rio was born in Tulare in California’s San Joaquin Valley, and raised in the Mexican State of Michoacan until the age of 14. He is a proud ambassador of the authentic regional cuisine of Mexico. Founder of Yeyo’s Mexican Grill in 2012, Rafael has lived in kitchens his entire life. As a child, he took every opportunity to learn and master traditional cooking techniques used by his mother and grandmother. Now Rios is a four-time semi-finalist (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024) for Best Chef South by the James Beard Foundation. Chef Rafael works in honor of his father, Don Yeyo, who founded the Rios Family Farm. Chef Rafael believes meaningful, intentional food with history is the most delicious. Food made simply to highlight the highest quality ingredients.  

ABOUT DOWNTOWN SPRINGDALE ALLIANCE: Downtown Springdale Alliance is a nonprofit that was formed in 2011 with a mission to create a vibrant downtown. For more information, visit www.downtownspringdale.org.