On Winslow Way, the Bainbridge Apothecary & Tea Shop has expanded to a spacious area behind the building where it will now offer food, live music, yoga, and various seasonal events throughout the year.

Currently, a taco stand is set up in that area Thursday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. The stand is run by tea shop staff where they offer pork, chicken, and vegetarian street tacos, as well as tamales, empanadas, frozen sangria, frozen lemonade, pastries and soon Cubano sandwiches. On Fridays and Saturdays, live music and entertainment will be performed as part of happy hour from 5:30-8 p.m.

“Our concept came from looking at our happy hours that we started last August,” said the shop’s creative director, Steven Fogell. “That entailed more of the apothecary, and the music was on the deck. We knew there was more of a need for entertainment and food. Instead of doing this in the same location, why not do it in the back and open it up as a street taco bar?”

Since August, Fogell said they’ve had at least 25 musicians perform through COVID-19 because they played outside. One issue they had was they would run out of food. “We knew that if we expanded to doing street tacos on a regular basis, that would also be popular,” Fogell said.

With shop owner Erika Thayer having over 20 years of experience with food and catering, they are able to cater large events. Fogell said the shop has weddings booked for the summer and that they also host birthday parties that can be themed. He mentioned they will have a Halloween-themed celebration that will be twice as big as last year’s now that they have room to spread out. Staff has also talked about doing events for Oktoberfest, a Christmas market and a renaissance fair.

“We will keep expanding the garden and coming up with new protective covering, other ways of heat sourcing,” Fogell said. “We are a place to consider for space rental and your next party because we can close off the entire back.”

With live music, space for dancing is needed.

“It’s pretty much the same dance floor you would find in any restaurant or bar location,” Fogell said. “We don’t have a permanent stage, we wanted to keep it more like a garden when we don’t have music. We bring in portable stages. The acoustics are perfect…without the sound disturbing anybody.”

Meanwhile, Emma and Otto Ice Cream, a small family owned and locally sourced business, is renting backspace to give folks another food option. Their hours match with the taco stand running Thursday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m.

“You both have sweet and savory choices,” Fogell said.

Another component is weekend morning yoga before other activities start up. Fogell said that should be in place by the end of July.

“That is something we’re just now getting set,” he said. “We are bringing in a lot of holistic healing practices onto the property to be able to utilize the space before it opens.”