By Christopher Holland • The Current Contributing Writer
Carbon County is home to another new entertainment complex. The Hofford Mill opened this month in Weissport and is offering a multitude of entertainment, dining and drinking options.
Owned by Tommy and Lucie McEvilly and their daughter Kathryn, The Hofford Mill has wines by Radical Wine, a new restaurant called The Gorge Eatery, an artisan coffee bar dubbed Uncommon Grounds, axe throwing entertainment in the Throw House, and even has a hostel named City House.
In its collaboration with Radical Wine, they will be offering a selection of wines made specifically for The Hofford Mill. The bar will also offer Pennsylvania made beers and a curated selection of Pennsylvania made spirits.
The Gorge is a new restaurant offering small bites, tacos, flatbreads, hot sandwiches and a handful of entrees emphasizing comfort food such as chicken pot pie, seafood mac and cheese and pork schnitzel.
“The items on the menu are a variety of contemporary American cuisine, approachable but different from any menu in the immediate community,” said Kathryn McEvilly.
She said the goal is to give guests some new choices.
Uncommon Grounds artisan coffee bar offers coffee exclusively roasted in Pennsylvania, with patented recipes such as the very popular Aztec cinnamon cocoa roast.
Throw House is an axe throwing entertainment complex based out of Philadelphia, and its new location at The Hofford Mill is its third endeavor.
“Guests can come rent a cage for two hours and get a hands-on axe throwing experience with a fully trained coach,” McEvilly said. It offers a unique party experience and has group rates available. It is limited to ages 14 and up.
The City House hostel is based out of Philadelphia, with other locations in Atlantic City, Washington D.C. and New Orleans.
“We’re excited that they’re opening their first non-metropolitan location at The Hofford Mill,” McEvilly said.
She said that they will be emphasizing the outdoor experience including glamping.
The Hofford Mill also has private event space available for parties of up to 125.
McEvilly said it can be rented for parties, wedding receptions, workshops, philanthropic events and more.
“The Hofford Mill will also host a wide range of creative events that will be open to the public,” she said.
McEvilly said that before opening The Hofford Mill, her initial endeavor was to open a food truck.
“Upon searching for the right location to base the kitchen out of, we decided to go in a different direction and invest the money in our own building and bring a variety of tenants to create a residual income,” she said.
She said the axe throwing is what really got the ball rolling. “After participating in the new-wave activity at the end of 2017, I saw the potential of having such a unique activity in our area,” she said.
After securing an axe throwing vendor, she sought out an alcohol vendor, a coffee vendor and a hostel.
“The actual tenants did change throughout the two years of project development and construction, and we’ve ended up with some amazing partners in The Hofford Mill,” she said.
But getting to where they are today wasn’t an easy feat.
“There have been many challenges along the way,” she said. “Revitalizing an old building opens the door to needing numerous upgrades to make the space hospitable for the public. Our inspector worked closely with us over the course of about 10 months to ensure a safe construction space and all building codes were respected. The process was quite long and tedious.”
She said they also faced obstacles with tenants changing.
“We started with a plan, but in building a community, there are moving parts and we had to react accordingly. Dealing with this was quite stressful, but in the end, we ended up with amazing tenants that have a lot of enthusiasm about the products and services they have to offer,” she said.
What McEvilly was most excited about was being able to design a concept from scratch and watch it evolve in a positive way.
“The journey has been long. However, the Hofford Mill is a familiar place to many individuals in the area. Some worked there, others visited, but it put food on the tables of many people in the area. It’s very gratifying to see the community come together and get so excited about what we’re doing… It isn’t often that we see residents show so much enthusiasm. We all want to be proud of the town we live in, and The Hofford Mill team is grateful to be part of that,” she said.
And McEvilly and her family are no strangers to the restaurant business as their family business, Tommy’s Restaurant Equipment, has been selling restaurant kitchen equipment and consulting restaurants for the past 30 years.
“In doing so, we’ve seen many examples of work for successful establishments and what hinders the restaurants that fail… This knowledge helped us to design a concept minimizing the many pitfalls of restaurants,” she said.
McEvilly also attended culinary school and studied classical French cooking while she lived in Montreal, where she moved to after graduating high school. She returned to the states in 2016 to join the family business.
She said that her and the team have a lot of creative ideas and events in the works for 2020.
“We want to focus on hosting events that are not done in this area. We have a beautiful backdrop and we’d love to see more development around us so people have lots of amazing options,” she said.
The soonest event coming up will be their Valentine’s Day party on February 14. The event will include axe throwing, a buffet of whimsical classic culinary pairings such as buttery grilled cheese and tomato bisque, adult trivia with lots of prizes, and musical entertainment. Full details to be released soon.
She said that her team started out small with four people throughout the construction process, but she anticipates employing nearly 30 people and will plan for additional employment as they grow.
Business hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Initially the kitchen will be open from 3-9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Axe throwing will be open Thursday through Sunday, with additional days to come later.
“Our goals are fun, quality, entertainment, and inclusion… If we can accomplish these 4 initiatives, we have achieved our goals,” she said.
More information on The Hofford Mill can be found at www.thehoffordmill.com and via its social media outlets.
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