The Tally-Ho restaurant played host to a free the taps event as well as the Blackbelt Benefit Group’s sponsor appreciation night Thursday.

In July, the law was changed to allow the sale of draft beer in Selma and Dallas County, and the Tally-Ho has been taking advantage of it since early August.

“It’s been a long time in the making,” said Paul Wilkerson, co-owner of the Tally-Ho restaurant. “We’ve gotten a little bit of practice since the license came into effect.”

People were lining up Thursday at the restaurant’s bar in the lounge area, waiting to get their glass of cold beer.

For the last month, Wilkerson said they have been extremely busy with draft sales, much more than he had anticipated.

“I expected to sit on some kegs for a while [thinking] it would be kind of a good draw for the business and people that would ask if we have draft beer from out of town and we would be able to say yeah, we do,” Wilkerson said.

“It would just be something extra we could offer. I didn’t ever think it was going to actually be a very lucrative part of the business.”

Wilkerson said he is thankful for the group of people who have worked alongside him to push the sale of draft beer and to finally see it happen.

“It just shows you that if you get enough people with a common interest and pushing for a common thing, [it can happen],” Wilkerson said. “To get everybody on the same page and show a common interest and how we worked towards that, and now it’s the culmination of that and everybody can sit back and enjoy an ice cold draft beer because of that work.”

At the same time people were enjoying beer in the lounge, others were in another part of the restaurant celebrating the Blackbelt Benefit Group and sponsors who help the nonprofit with its work.

“We’re just having a sponsor appreciation night for all the sponsors that we’ve ever had,” said Clay Carmichael, a founding member of the Blackbelt Benefit Group.

“Just showing thanks and giving them some free food and some free drinks and also supporting Tally-Ho.”

Carmichael said the sponsors play a huge role in the success of the nonprofit group, and they are forever thankful of their support and encouragement.

“We wouldn’t be able to do anything without [the sponsors]. We don’t feel like we can do enough for our sponsors,” Carmichael said. “We’re just thankful for what they’re doing.”

The group also discussed some of their upcoming events, like the River Raft Race and Riverfront Park Music and Arts Festival on Sept. 7 and Grow Selma’s upcoming Farm to Table event in October.