Farm-to-table street corn at a bar? Macon pub highlights local farmers with its food

A Macon bar already known for its long happy hours, karaoke and live music, is also trying to prioritize support for Georgia farmers: 20’s Pub picks out a farm and offers farm-to-table food from that place every month.

Lisa Williams, director of marketing and entertainment for the pub, said the idea started back in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was the general manager of a local pizzeria. She said during that time the community supported the restaurant to keep it going while doing to-go orders only.

Once the restaurant was back open and fully operational, Williams said she wanted to give back to the community for all the support.

“I thought, ‘what better way to give back to the community than to support Georgia farmers who never stopped working,’” she said.

Williams said the partnership was a huge success and she collaborated with 14 different farms during her time with the pizzeria. Once at 20’s Pub, which went under new ownership in 2022, Williams said she pitched the idea to her boss and staff who loved the concept. They wanted to support of local farmers through a farm-to-table experience.

“I brought this idea to our staff at 20’s Pub last July and we started the farm-to-table partnerships with Dickey Farms Peaches in August,” Williams said.

The pub, located on Riverside Drive, is using corn from Everett Farms to offer farm-to-table Mexican street corn dip and a cream corn made straight from Everett Farms as a side dish.

Williams said in addition to the two current sweet corn specials, 20’s Pub will also offer roasted ears of corn and more specials in the last week of the month.

“During our preparation trial and error process with these monthly specials, we let some of our regular customers test out our specials to get feedback from them,” she said. “I love involving the customers and staff during this process of figuring out our monthly farm specials.”

Williams went on to explain that what she loves most about these partnerships is touring the farms, learning about the crops, and then sharing her experience with customers so they can learn more about local farmers.

Her relationship with Everett Farms owner Jana Everett goes back several years.

“This is something we have talked about doing for a long time. I’ve always heard amazing things about their farm, especially about their sweet corn. Everett Farms is located in Montezuma and their family has been farming since 1956,” she said. “They have roughly 700 acres of farmland for all types of crops. The variety of sweet corn they grow is called Silver King and it is grown on 35 acres along with other types of corn for animal feed.”

Williams said she tries her best to use crops and fruits that are in season, along with partnering with the farms that have other types of products year-round.

In addition to Everett Farms, she has partnered with several other farms for other foods. The pub partnered with Sweet Grass Dairy for pimento cheese. It also partnered with Mercier Orchards for crimson crisp apples, Long Farms for sweet potatoes. A partnership with the Macon location of Salt Lick Sausage Company led to them using several products: mild sausage, jalapeño cheddar sausage and ground chuck. The pub also partnered with Elliott Farms for strawberries and sweet onions.

The pub offers the longest happy hour in Macon from 11 a.m to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and all day Sunday, according to Williams. Menu items include appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, entrees and dessert.

For entertainment, the bar and grill has karaoke four days a week, live music on Fridays, dart tournaments, trivia and bingo nights.

Williams said she wants the community to know that 20’s Pub supports local farmers, and she wants them to as well.

“There’s a saying a lot of these farmers tell me - ‘Know your farmer, know your food’ - and it’s 100% accurate. You get to know the farmers, their family farm history, how they support the local areas by going to farmers markets to sell their products,” she said. “You also learn about the process on how they prepare their products so it’s safe and fresh for us to eat. By supporting local farmers, you’re also supporting the local community and economy.”