It has been five weeks since the taphouse first opened in downtown Elizabethton, and the owners feel like now is the time to celebrate.

The Riverside Taphouse on East Elk Avenue is hosting a Grand Opening Event/Ribbon Cutting event this evening at 635 East Elk Avenue.

“This is when we can say our official hello to the community,” co-owner Michael Howell said. “We are excited to bring everyone together.”

The event will bring various local musicians to perform during the festivities, which will take place alongside Evenings on Elk and the annual Covered Bridge Festival this weekend.

Howell even said they will have Woodland Baking Company, which Howell said will be their last event for a while, as the owner is going back to school.

“We are also finally getting our merchandise in,” he said.

The festivities are the five-week anniversary of the Riverside Taphouse, which underwent a long journey to set up shop in Elizabethton, riding on the heels of city ordinance changes in order to sell alcohol.

“It feels amazing,” Howell said of the new business he and his wife Cheri Tinney have started. “It is exciting and humbling.”

He said they have received an incredible level of support form the community that has gone beyond mere words. He said they often receive paintings from local artists who merely want to support them as a business.

“We have made a million friends,” he said. “I never imagined the community would be as excited as they are.”

As owners who are new to being business owners, he said they have had their share of issues to solve since they stared, but those issues have been much less severe thanks to the community’s support before they even opened.

“A lot of potential issues were headed off,” Howell said.

He said he could not imagine being in a better location than on East Elk, situated right next to Big Dan’s bar-be-que. He said they often share customers with each other and Jiggy Ray’s Pizza, which he said brings light to what there is to do and see in downtown Elizabethton.

As part of the weekend festivities, Howell said the taproom will have extended hours until 11 p.m. today and Saturday. The opening events will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce at 4 p.m.