BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Historic charm and fall festivities meet, Heritage House is hosting two upcoming fall events to immerse attendees in fun and food.
“Southern Gothic is a brand new event and is the brainchild of my wife/business partner Dani Nelson,” said Co-Owner Leif Espelund. “We describe it as a woven tapestry of music, performance and literary readings while being served a 4-course Gullah Geechee meal. Curated to be an unforgettable Southern Gothic experience here at Heritage House. So it’s a Halloween-themed dinner and a show, but with a distinctly Southern Gothic aesthetic. We are doing two shows: Friday, Oct. 24, and Saturday, Oct. 25, each from 6-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 each and seating is limited.”
While the Heritage House has not hosted a Southern Gothic event before, Espelund said he is looking forward to it and knows attendees will have a good time.
“We have produced many events in the past, both personally and professionally,” he said. “We do not enter into something like this lightly. A ton of planning is going into it, and we have a lot of help from others to pull it off. If you come to an event that we produce, I can guarantee you will feel the love and hard work that has gone into it.”
The second upcoming fall event is the Opelika Villains Ball, which will be held at the John Emerald Distilling Company on Oct. 31 from 7 to 11 p.m.
“We will have a ton of custom-produced art and decor, some fun performances, a costume contest and a dance party back in the warehouse amongst the whiskey stills,” Espelund said. “Tickets are just $25 right now. This is the fourth year we are producing the Villains Ball, but every year we do things differently to make sure it always feels fresh. The last two years, it has been outside at the Rail Yard. This is the first year we are doing it inside, and we are excited about the opportunities that will present to do more cool decorations and experiences.”
Espelund said he and his wife purchased the Heritage House and property, putting in hard work to create an atmosphere for visitors to enjoy.
“Heritage House is a 5,500 square foot neoclassical mansion built in 1913 as a family home,” he said. “It has been operated as a commercial endeavor of various sorts since the early 1970s. It first became a bed and breakfast in 1993. We purchased the property in January 2020 and spent 6 months getting ready to reopen it. The previous owners had shuttered the business and liquidated all the assets, so we had to start over from scratch. We have been open since June 2020.”
Along with the upcoming fall events, Espelund said the Heritage House holds a number of other seasonal and themed nights for locals to enjoy time together throughout the year.
“I will admit that these are passion projects of Dani’s and I’m just one of the many people who help her execute them,” he said. “She loves producing unique events, and even when it is an annual event like the Villains Ball, she always mixes it up so it truly is a unique experience each year. Other events she has produced in Opelika include the annual Midsummer Market, a classic car show for the first time this past summer, a Bridgerton-themed tea party, a fundraising pub crawl during last year’s Victorian Front Porch Tour and an intimate series of concerts at Heritage House, to name a few.”
As the Heritage House uses its space for community events, they are also a venue for private events and a bed and breakfast.
“We have certainly seen growth in all aspects of the business since opening,” Espelund said. “Our core business is the bed and breakfast, which hosts overnight guests from all over the world. Some come to the area to visit for work or pleasure, and some are just stopping over as they pass through the area on the way to somewhere else. We see a surprising number of European visitors stopping in on road trips through the south. We also host a variety of private events where we are acting as the venue. This includes weddings, showers, luncheons, dinners, networking events, retreats, book readings, concerts, tea parties and even one bar mitzvah.”
For more information on Heritage House and to register for their fall events, visit www.heritagehouse1913.com.
