The GhostLight Lounge to have official grand opening tonight

Freddie Bourne, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·3 min read

Oct. 16—The GhostLight Lounge will make its official debut in downtown Owensboro tonight.

The grand opening celebration will be from 7 p.m. to midnight, featuring an open mic, karaoke, adult spelling bee, trivia, rock-paper-scissors tournament and a black light party.

Rich Jorn, executive director of the RiverPark Center, said that the lounge will be a "post-place to go" after a big show in Cannon Hall to "keep the experience going."

"We wanted to be entertainment based first," Jorn said. "First and foremost, it will be the place to go (when) you see a show at the RiverPark Center, you're not ready to go home yet. You want to still talk or share that experience .... No matter what night a show's on, The GhostLight Lounge will be open for that."

Formerly the home of Woodward's Cafe, the new lounge on the south side of the RiverPark Center's Atmos Courtyard will be home to live music, karaoke, drag shows and drink specials. The lounge has a capacity of between 60 to 75 people.

Jorn said that they plan to use all the space available so people will have a good time, and that the space will still have activities even when a show is not on the RiverPark's main stage.

"We're going to utilize the courtyard and seating outside," Jorn said. "We have the beautiful lights out there .... You can be inside, outside — and when it's not attached to a show, it's always going to be entertainment based."

Jorn said that he had intentions to get the lounge up and running a while back.

"As we were getting going, we were going to take our time and do a grand opening," Jorn said. "Then COVID happened. So, (we) had to pump the breaks ... it was not the time to start a new thing."

During the summer, Jorn unofficially opened the venue.

"It was the second week of Friday After 5 and it was rainy, it was cold and people were miserable — people wanted to come down here and be out and enjoy Friday After 5," Jorn said. "I was like, 'Let's unlock these doors, let's bring some tables and chairs in .... After that moment, we've always been a part of Friday After 5, whether it was bad (weather) or not .... because there was a need for it, we opened up before we wanted to, before we had it all decked out and dressed up."

The lounge has been in its "soft opening" stages since July, featuring shows with local musicians, including Madeline Wilkerson and Paul Montgomery, while entertaining the masses with glow parties, lip sync battles and pre- and post-show events for the RiverPark main stage.

Jorn said that the wide variety of entertainment will continue opening day, and he plans to explore some food options to offer.

"There's going to be some comedy, there's going to be some open mic nights ....," Jorn said. "We'll have some trivia nights, we'll have times where we will have some ghost stories going on in there...."

Tonight, Jorn expects a mixture of all the activities.

"It's all about fun," Jorn said. "It's all about being entertained."

Jorn anticipates having the lounge open every night after a show and every Friday and Saturday night.

Admission is free for the grand opening. All attendees must be 21 years old or older.

Freddie Bourne, fbourne@mcleannews.com