What’s happening: A grand opening celebration was held in the Kercheval corridor late last week as Barkside opened its doors to both its two- and four-legged customers. The bar, beer garden, and dog park opens in a building first built as a bank in 1918 and relatively more recently redeveloped as mixed-use.
What it is: Barkside utilizes its outdoor beer garden to double as a dog park, and also offers an indoor play area for dogs and humans to enjoy one another’s company year-round. The bar features beer, wine, coffee, and mocktails on its menu, and will host trivia nights, yoga sessions, and more.
How to visit: Those without dogs can patronize the bar freely, though a guest agreement must be signed on account of all the dogs. Those with dogs can enjoy the space by either becoming a Barkside member or via day passes.
“As much as we are a dog park and bar, we like to think we’re so much more than that,” says Barkside co-founder Cody Williams. “It’s just a really fun casual environment, and it’s so easy for folks to meet and make friends.”
How they did it: Barkside co-founders David Oh and Cody Williams received a $55,000 grant from Motor City Match to renovate the space.
Motor City Match offers cash grants to entrepreneurs wanting to open brick-and-mortar businesses in Detroit, and is funded by and operates as a partnership between the City of Detroit, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), the Economic Development Corporation of the City of Detroit (EDC), and the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Why they did it: “Given my background in the corporate world, I wanted to do something more impactful to the community and just to the city of Detroit,” says Oh. “That was the defining moment for me to move forward with this idea.”
Barkside is located at 7960 Kercheval Ave. in Detroit’s West Village.
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