To raise money for the rebuilding of Rye, a restaurant in downtown McKinney that caught fire in August, its owners are hosting a one-night fundraiser they’re calling Fyrefest — a play on words and a nod to Fyre Festival, the comically disastrous 2017 music festival in the Bahamas.
The fundraiser will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Lower Greenville Rye location and will be open to the public. Like Fyre Festival, “there’s a bit of mystery as to what will unfold,” according to a release. Unlike the doomed musical festival, though, this event will actually have food.
Complimentary small bites will be served along with specialty drinks for purchase from guest bartenders dressed up as celebrities who were advertised as attendees of the musical festival, like Ja Rule, Ricky Martin and Guy Fieri. All proceeds from the event will go toward reopening Rye in McKinney sometime in 2023, the release said.
The restaurant closed indefinitely after a fire broke out in the alley behind it Aug. 15. The restaurant’s kitchen and kitchen storage were severely damaged, leaving it inoperable for the foreseeable future, owner Tanner Agar said. The cause of the fire is still unknown and under investigation.
A GoFundMe for the restaurant’s reopening has raised $19,000 so far.
Rye’s Dallas location is at 1920 Greenville Ave., Dallas. rye.restaurant.
