Our Story: From Classroom to Café 

Community Activism, a capstone course with the goal of facilitating real-world learning for high school seniors, was created by the social studies department at Woodford County High School. Taught at first by Kyle Fannin and later Andy Smith, the classes created “Spark” pop-up festivals and coffee shops to help stimulate economic development in downtown Versailles.

 

In 2016, Tristan Ferrell led a group of students (Katie Beth Craig, Keegan Elvidge, Reagan Jobe and Rachael Kral) in the process of creating a permanent community café. Along with Fannin, Smith, Lori Garkovich, Maria Bohannan and Ouita Michel, we collectively formed a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and raised over $150,000 to open a pay-what-you-can, pay-it-forward restaurant that opened on March 27, 2019.

 

Since Spark Community Cafés opening, we've grown our services to now include onsite and offsite catering as a means to continually raise funds for the café, along with using the space for events & parties.

 

The goal of Spark Community Café is to provide great food with dignity for all of our patrons in a community space that educates, entertains, and accepts all who walk through our doors.