Tallahassee’s Sound Bar welcomes hurricane evacuees with open jams, hot meals

In a gracious effort to help comfort those displaced by the series of savage storms, the owners of the live music venue on West Tharpe Street on Thursday night hosted a potluck style "Evacuee Dinner," in conjunction with its weekly jam.

Live music, hot meals, and the comfort of strangers from hundreds of miles away from home provided a pleasant, temporary distraction. For evacuees in attendance, it helped ease the anxiety of what could have been one of the worst days of their lives in the aftermath of Category 3 Hurricane Milton.

Every Thursday, the family-friendly Sound Bar owned by Bianca Herndon and her husband, Thomas typically hosts a weekly "Open Blues Jam," led by musician Brett Wellman. However, this week's gathering served a different purpose.

"We're doing exactly what I always wanted to do, which was to give back," Bianca Herndon said, elated by the number of people who came together to pull it off, and the community she's been able to foster since opening last November.

With the support of local establishments and close friends aligned with their mission, the Herndons were able to provide grilled chicken from local food truck vendor Fire Basket, breads from Panera Bread, brews from coffee chain Red Owl, along with salads, mac and cheese and potato salad to feed 70 people.

Tallahassee local Vanessa Garcia and her mother, Carmen Cuevas, were among the guests.

Prior to the event, Garcia spent the day trying to distract herself and her mother, who evacuated from her home in Tampa Tuesday evening, to join her daughter.

Garcia's two brothers initially stayed behind to care for their cat and dog, a decision that took an emotional toll on Garcia.

While safe in the Big Bend, her worries for her family persisted. She even compared their initial determination to stay to her late grandfather's defiance - he had almost been arrested in the past for refusing to follow mandatory evacuation orders.

To suppress her own anxiety, she tried to enjoy this newfound time with her mother with a visit to Florida State University's Museum of Fine Arts and to a number of parks sprinkled throughout the city.

Garcia, her mother and one brother, who decided at the last minute to join them in the capital city, ultimately landed at the intimate spot.

"It's, you know, it's OK. It's just, everything's fine," Garcia said, fighting back tears with a grateful smile and giggles in between.

"There's no power, and there's two feet of water inside of the house...... I'm very grateful that my family made it," Garcia said.

Billy Ryan, hailing from Orlando, was another evacuee in attendance.

With only a quarter tank of gas in the family's van, Ryan packed up his wife and four young children to head to safer grounds.

"It saves us some money, you know, just spending money we didn't anticipate spending," Ryan said of the free dinner. "It's nice just to kind of not have to think about getting back on the road."

Ryan and his family also spent time visiting parks and meeting other families in the same boat as his family.

"It just gives us something to do, to wait it out," he said as he watched his children run around the gravel lot, listen to music and come back to the table every so often to grab another bite out of their plates.

A community effort

With intentions to relieve the stresses and worries caused from the storm, Bianca Herndon said its success wouldn't have been possible without the help of the Sound Bar and Tallahassee community.

After a crowd of evacuees attended the venue's weekly karaoke night on Tuesday, Herndon said she was happy to distract them and "give them something else to do," but asked herself what else could be done.

A musician suggested that if people were willing to, they could prepay for someone's meal at the venue. This concept sparked the idea to host a dinner with the hope that local donations would offset the price.

Within two hours of the idea coming together, a flyer was shared over 1,000 times on social media platforms reaching all over the state, generating an outpouring of love and comments filling the venue's business page.

"More impressive is the amount of our community members who reached out to donate, provide tents, cook cookies, make pasta salad, bring water bowls for dogs and ask how they could help," Herndon said.

But they're not done quite yet. The Sound Bar is also working on putting together convenience kits to those in need.

Throughout the evening, regular patrons and evacuees became friends as they spent the night eating, sharing testimonials and words of encouragement as acoustic jams rang along Tharpe Street, bringing a serene peace to all those who gathered.

"We appreciate you guys so much, thank you so much," one woman said as she made her way out for the night.

How to help

∎ For more information on how to donate or how to help with convenience kits, visit: facebook.com/TheSoundbarTally

Kyla A Sanford covers dining and entertainment for the Tallahassee Democrat. New restaurant opening up, special deals, or events coming up? Let me know at  ksanford@tallahassee.com.  You can also email your suggestions for a future  TLH Eats  restaurant profile .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Sound Bar welcomes hurricane evacuees with open jams and hot meals