This post is written by guest blogger, Steven Amrhein, Intern at Old Town Cape.

Q: Who are you and when did you open the business?

A: We are the owners, Allen and Albert, and we do everything here at Socials Café and Catering - whether it be cooking, prepping, serving, or cleaning - we are your guys. The café opened downtown in April 2007 in a building that is over 110 years old that is now known as "The Bar" that was used in Gone Girl. Everything in the old building was built from scratch from our ideas and what we wanted the café to be. However, eventually it was time to improve and expand our vision that consisted of being closer to the river in a nicer space - even if it meant that we had to carry everything over ourselves through the alley way. Socials currently is located at 31 N. Main Street and has been since July 2011.

Q: What makes your business unique?

A; What began as a sandwich shop now offers a variety of menu items including salads, side items, soups and more. In fact, the only thing that is still from our original menu is the chicken salad, which has been known to sell out because of what makes us truly unique - the freshness. We are very "anti-tub," meaning that nothing that we buy is prepackaged. 95% of our food is made right here in downtown Cape including the bread, soups, and meats. Everything else is bought locally.

Another great thing that makes us unique is that we are the only all open front café in Cape Girardeau. The entire front of the restaurant can be opened and usually is in the spring before the bugs invade. We are actually looking into purchasing screens so that the doors can stay open during the summer as well in order to provide a better atmosphere for Main Street.

Q: Why did you choose to locate your business downtown?

A: It's all about the memories. Growing up in Cape Girardeau, we remember the buzz about going downtown for festivals and to visit new stores. I, Albert, move away for about ten years and came back to Cape with a new passion for wanting to have my own place downtown. On the west side of town, there are so many chain stores and we felt that Socials would be lost or hard to find over there. We also specialize in building relationships on a smaller basis, so we felt that downtown was the right fit for us.

The business is slowly growing and changing. What used to be 8am to 5pm every day has changed to better fit visitor's needs. Socials is now open six days a week: Tuesday & Wednesday from 8am to 3pm; Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 8am to 8 pm; and Sunday from 9am to 1pm. If you decide to stop by for a visit, we recommend trying the Clubhouse Grille (Allen's favorite) or the Chipotle Chicken and Bacon (Albert's favorite).

This post is written by guest blogger, Tara Mills.

Let's rewind almost five years. It's spring in Cape Girardeau and you can feel it in the air. The flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and the air is softening. But for one girl, everything is as bleak as winter. Her heart has been broken, you see. So, where to go and what to do to somewhat mend that heart? Why, Ragsdale's is just the ticket! It certainly helps that her friend is bar tending that night. After a while, after a few tears and lamentations, in strolls a vaguely familiar guy.

"Don't I know you?"

"I'm talking to my friend right now," is the sweet response.

The girl on the barstool was me and the vaguely familiar guy? He's now my husband. Now, now, don't let your mind wander - it was a night of visiting and storytelling. Josh and I first met when we were sixteen. He was friends with my cousin and I visited Cape for a couple of weeks that summer. But we had only seen each other a few times since then, the majority of those conversations sounding something like this:

"Hey, aren't you Jill's cousin?"

"Yeah, I am. Aren't you Jill's friend? The one with the blue truck?"

"Yeah! Good to see you."

"Good to see you too."

That fateful night he was living in Indiana and I was moving away from Cape in a month. Not a great start to a romance, to be sure, but it all worked out. I eventually moved back to Cape to start graduate school. When Josh visited, our nights would begin or end (and sometimes both) at a downtown establishment - whether for food, drinks, dancing, or all three! After Josh moved back to Cape, our relationship grew and we began to see all of the other great things that downtown Cape has to offer - furniture, antiques, clothes, events like Tunes at Twilight and the Cape Riverfront Market, and jewelry. Oops, I just gave you a hint as to how this story ends!

Ok, now fast forward to the night before Thanksgiving of 2012. After dinner at Broussard's, we walked to the river. As we meandered by Ragsdale's, this conversation sparked: what would our lives be like if we hadn't run into each other that one night? We continued to walk, talk, and watch the water whoosh by. As I headed back to the car, Josh called my name and I turned around to find him on one knee with a stunning ring from Jayson Jewelers.

Our story doesn't end there. I said yes, and just a little over a month ago, we were married. When looking for locations for the ceremony, the answer seemed obvious. Downtown Cape had been such a big part of our lives and relationship that it was the perfect place to begin our new journey together. We were lucky enough to be one of the first weddings allowed in the beautiful Old St. Vincent's Catholic Church since the 1970s! The church's downtown location also allowed us to use the unique views and vistas, resulting in amazing pictures and memories that we'll hang on our walls and cherish forever.

With all that downtown Cape has been to and done for us, it's exciting to think about what's next. Our relationship began and blossomed downtown, developed into a serious something, then changed into a marriage, a real man-and-wife something. Thank you, downtown Cape, for your charm and opportunities both new and old, and all of the good times that you offer. Personally, I thank you for my hubby!

This post is written by guest blogger, Steven Amrhein, Intern at Old Town Cape.

Baseball's Spring Training has begun and hopefully Cards nation can book another trip to the World Series in 2014. I work at JCPenney where anything St. Louis Cardinals is big business and I always wondered how this past season's National League Championship Series shirts showed up on store racks the very next day. Someone mentioned that Horizon Screen Printing prints St. Louis Cardinals merchandise, so I sat down with Dru Reeves, owner of Horizon Screen Printing, and learned some pretty interesting stories - who know that World Series Championship shirts are printed right here in downtown Cape!

Horizon Screen Printing sits on Broadway and is known for making quality t-shirts for a wide variety of clients in and around Cape Girardeau. Starting in the early 1980s, the business grew in size and was actually approached by VF Imagewear, the company that holds licenses to Majestic, Wrangler, and Jansport, to start mass producing St. Louis championship clothing. Reeves says that all major cities have a local screen printer since VF Imagewear is located in Miami, FL.

Smoothly executed by Reeves and his employees, the process has stayed the same for the past 20 years. Once a win is declared, Horizon starts printing immediately after. They work non-stop for 24 hours before taking a small break, only to get back to the presses with another 24 hour workday. So, if the Cardinals win the World Series at 10 p.m., the printing starts at 10:30 p.m. because the design has already been submitted. Within a few hours, the first truck shows up and arrives again at 5 a.m. to take the t-shirts back to St. Louis.

Three operating presses pump out 600 t-shirts per hour, manned by a ten person team. The total stock supplies 10,000 t-shirts to be distributed all over Cape Girardeau and back to the bigger cities. Stores that get clothing from Horizon include major retailers such as JCPenney, Macy's, Dillards, and Sears. Horizon gets big business if the Cardinals win! Reeves also has his fingers crossed for the Rams next year and currently for the Blues, since his contract covers MLB, NFL, and NHL as well. He has completed t-shirts for the Cardinals when winning their division before, but doing so is less common because VF Imagewear has more time to print and the t-shirts sell less than the World Series.

Mark McGwire's 62nd homerun in 1998 still holds Reeves' most challenging t-shirt printing operation. He explains it as being different than a World Series win because there is a designated number of games in the World Series and the team only has to win 4 out of 7 games. Reeves even has an estimated date ahead of time on when he will start printing the World Series t-shirts; twice he even received the green light on printing before the final game was played. However, McGwire could have broken the record during any game, and it just so happened to be a day that Reeves was in St. Louis. He had to pack up his bags, make some calls, and head home immediately to start printing.

The last thing Reeves left me with is mention of one of his pride and joys, a St. Louis Stallions t-shirt. Who are the St. Louis Stallions you may ask? Reeves is fond of knowing that he owns one of the only printed shirts of the football team. Before the Rams came to St. Louis, NFL was thinking about the Stallions becoming a team, and the design for their t-shirts was ready at Horizon to be printed by the thousands. Unfortunately, Reeves then got word that the team would not come to fruition, so before putting the design away forever, he turned on the printing press for one shirt only, which he owns to this day.

This post is co-written by guest bloggers, Lydia Ness and Steven Amrhein, students at Southeast Missouri State University.

With work and school, it had been a while since my boyfriend and I had been on a date. Since Valentine's Day is fast approaching, what better time to plan a date? We came together and decided on the perfect downtown date.

A key ingredient for the perfect date is perfect outfits for each, so being the awesome girlfriend that I am, I helped him pick out an outfit for the date. We made a trip to one of the newest stores downtown, Southern Style, where they have a great selection of both casual and dressy attire. After shopping around for a while, we decided on a Southern Tide button up shirt, Polo Ralph Lauren khaki jeans, and a Collared Greens belt.

I, however, wanted to keep my outfit a surprise, so after finishing up at Southern Style, I sent him on his way and made a trip to Main Street to visit my favorite boutique, Stash. A friend helped me pick out the perfect little black dress by Fable paired with a handmade necklace by Shira Melody and a pair of neutral heels by Gomax. Now with the outfits chosen, the date could not come soon enough!

To begin the day together, we visited eDen Spa and Salon for the VIP Couples Massage, which included a one hour massage and one hour in the sauna. It was nice to just relax and spend time together. Afterwards, we headed over to Cup N Cork for a light lunch and took a stroll afterwards since the weather was so nice. We came across Cream of the Crust, located on Spanish Street, and I just had to get a strawberry milkshake! Come to find out, their ice cream is homemade along with the other pastries, cakes, etc. that they now carry. The perfect afternoon was only getting better.

Now it was my turn to be surprised, and I definitely was. After walking by the gorgeous river, looking at the murals, and hopping along the train tracks, the sun began to set and we made our way to Bellevue Street. I was curious as to where we were headed, until I saw the sign on the outside of a unique house - Celebrations.

I always wanted to try the elegant restaurant, and now I was so lucky to get to share the experience with my boyfriend. We were seated by a very personable host who introduced us to their award winning wine list with wines from small artisan producers. He also explained that the owners buy most of the food from local farmers so the food is guaranteed to be fresh. My boyfriend ordered the main dish of Sautéed Pacific Rockfish, but I went with a smaller dish, the Housemade Fettuccini.

The date was going so well that we just weren't ready for it to end. We were all dressed up so we decided to take a leisurely drive down Broadway on our way back home and I instantly saw the bright lights of Isle Casino Cape Girardeau. We figured it was a way to have some more fun and a chance to win back some of that date money, right? When we walked in, the live band was rocking loud music, playing all of today's hits and even some oldies. Not only were people pressing their luck at the machines, but a crowd was forming on the dance floor. We ended up dancing the night away and the band just so happened to play our song, "Treasure," by Bruno Mars.

The perfect date was a success! I was so happy to explore downtown with the best boyfriend around. I look forward to spending even more time downtown in the future and I encourage you to do the same. Who knows? You could convince your other half to take you on a date like ours!

Disclaimer: Lydia and Steven are only friends, but pretended to be dating for the purpose of this blog post.