Sugar Ridge Brewery in downtown Bowling Green is home to a new open-mic night for poets and writers who want to share their work. It’s mostly informal; speakers sign up during the night, or just go up when the list runs out.
Thursday, Feb. 1, was home to the very first show. The back room of the Ridge, where the poetry was held, was full and around 15 people performed some of their work.
The event was set up by two people, Billy Gruber, a dish washer at Sugar Ridge Brewery and Tyler Ruggles. Also, they both performed poetry and have a long history writing poetry. Their work is important to them and they wanted to give space for writers to share work that is important to them.
The pieces performed ranged from haikus, poetry, flash fiction, short stories and rap. Anyone was welcome to go up and share, one person reading a piece from a play they were preparing for.
“It’s intimidating showing your work” so they wanted to make this a space where writers could share whatever they wanted, Ruggles said.
Gruber got the idea to hold a poetry night at Sugar Ridge from the “rich poetry scene in Dayton” which is his hometown.
Gruber felt that Bowling Green has a great open mic music scene, but there is not a good spot for poets and writers to share their work. Gruber is also in a band and does other kinds of art.
“Writers are often the introverted type,” Ruggles said. “This kind of event encourages them to come out.”
“I really enjoyed it. It is kind of my thing, my space. So it was really enjoyable for me, really comfortable,” said Faith Hufford, who shared a poem.
Others shared poems about their life while one person shared a short story from the perspective of Tiffany Trump, one of Trump’s children.
Bowling Green has a great creative writing program, Gurber said.
The University creative program has a literary journal for student writers called Prairie Margins.
Gruber definitely wants to continue doing open-mic nights at the Ridge and is planning to have another one the last week of February. He is taking this time to “do some research” to find out the best nights and times best for the most number of people.
Another goal is to bring in professional poets and writers to share their pieces and experiences.
