The purpose of Open Seat is simple. We want to build community within the greater Centre county area by gathering folks from all walks of life to sit down and enjoy a sustainable (and delicious!) meal together. The catch is that all participants must assist in the meal in some way, shape, or form. Whether this is volunteering to come early to help cook, contributing a locally sourced ingredient, or bringing your instrument to serenade our guests, Open Seat is strictly for the people and by the people!

Events aim to build a sense of community not only by sharing a meal, but also by putting on display the many amazing local purveyors in Centre County. In the past, this has been done by assigning each participant one ingredient to provide for the dinner. We ask that they make every effort to source the ingredient locally, which we facilitate by listing the various locations where they might be able to find their ingredients. The hope is that this opens up a dialogue and increases awareness of all that is offered in this area, further adding to the communal ties that Open Seat is aiming to establish.

Thus far, Open Seat has hosted 4 events. As we progress and hold more events, our vision for the project is constantly evolving and we’re using each event to try new things. No event has been at the same venue, they’ve varied in size, and the activities that we’ve had the participants do have been different each time. It is our hope to continue to have the event grow organically, but to continue to provide a unique experience every time, it has become obvious that we need a small amount of funds to draw from.