'Seinfeld' is coming to Carrboro with a Festivus for the rest of us

Carrboro's Vecino Brewing Company is taking a break from Santa with a holiday event targeted at "Seinfeld" fans. This season, it will host a party for all those tired of the holidays — a Festivus for the rest of us. 

Festivus will take place on Dec. 21, running from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Vecino Brewing Company. The event will feature Festivus-themed food, beer specials and an ugly sweater contest.

Festivus will also feature several things any "Seinfeld" fan will recognize: the airing of grievances, the feats of strength and, of course, the Festivus pole.

If inebriated people attempting to lift heavy things seems likely to end in broken bones, don’t fret. The feats of strength will be a Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots contest.

Leah Plumlee, Vecino Brewing’s chef, said she was surprised by the growth of Festivus as a holiday. 

“It’s amazing how much it took off from that one episode,” Plumlee said.

Lauren Thomas works in marketing and communications for Vecino Brewing Company. Thomas said she thinks Festivus will be the perfect holiday celebration for any Grinches, or better yet, Costanzas. 

“It’s a grumpy person’s alternative to Christmas,” Thomas said.

Thomas said she had seen several other breweries host Festivus before she had the idea to host one at Vecino. 

Thomas also encouraged the less-than-Grinchy to double dip and enjoy both Festivus and Christmas.

“It’s not just for people who know about 'Seinfeld,' it’s for people who want to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, or want to drink some good beers,” Thomas said. “We’re going to have live music that night, and you might want to come out and hear that.”

Plumlee described her cooking as traditional brewery-fare infused with Latin American flavors. After reading about Festivus, Plumlee felt that her multi-cultural style lent itself, in a way, to cooking for the holiday.

“When I was reading about it, it just kind of seemed like New Yorkers went out and got their favorite fast food — Chinese, bagels, pizza — and that was their holiday celebration, whether they were Jewish or non-celebratory religious,” Plumlee said.

Plumlee said she noticed the Festivus meal in "Seinfeld" was made up of the odds and ends from fast food in New York City. This prompted her to choose Kung Pao chicken, a Costanza favorite, as Vecino’s main Festivus dish. Plumlee will also make an open-face meatloaf sandwich, homemade pretzels and yellow cake with buttercream icing and M&M’s.

Tyler Brown oversees marketing for Vecino Brewing. Brown said he thinks Festivus will be a unique event for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area and will give Seinfeld fans a chance to nerd out about the series.

“I don’t know if any other place around is doing something like this,” Brown said. “There are a lot of 'Seinfeld' fans out there.”

arts@dailytarheel.com