Gallery Social, a new social and event space at 88 North Plank Road in the Town of Newburgh, had its first soft opening on Saturday, June 6th. Saturday’s soft opening invited members of the Town of Newburgh’s emergency services, EMS, firefighters, and police to relax and enjoy the new space.

Gallery Social is owned by Ruth Platt and Dave Pinkston, the same pair that own Gallery Billiards at 154 North Plank Road. The pair have run Gallery Billiards since 2001, and have been looking to expand since before COVID. The main reason the pair chose the new location on North Plank St, Pinkston said, was for parking. He said “We were looking for a long time to expand and the parking lot in our current place has very limited parking, so just knocking down a wall there wasn’t going to work.”

The new space not only features pool tables, it also features a stringpin bowling alley and electronic darts games, as well as a kitchen and bar. The darts setup uses a sensor array around an empty wall space, enabling a variety of different game modes that are selectable from a computer panel in front of the darts area. Platt said “The sensor can also pick up not just your traditional darts, but you can play with things that don’t have sharp pointy objects on them, so kids can play too.”

The kitchen will have a rotating menu, Pinkston said “People come here four or five times a week as opposed to like, your favorite restaurant you may only go three times so the menu is great.” The bar will also feature not only beer, but some cocktails on tap, as well as coffee and a variety of other drinks.

There will be a few more soft openings before the space is fully open to the public, to allow the Gallery Social team time to make sure all of the equipment is running smoothly. Pinkston said they put on the first opening for first responders because “We wanted to do something for the community and also help us get ready to be open to the public and have all the systems up and running properly.” They plan to hold similar soft openings for friends and family of employees and for members of the billiards league at Gallery Billiards.

For a first test run, things seemed to be running smoothly, aside from the occasional dart that the sensors didn’t pick up, and the guests were having a good time. First responder Chris Phillips said “It’s a really nice environment, nice place to be in, and I definitely would come back here more times than one.”