Always a party in Town Square

Gordon Biersch, Austin Grille, Greystone Grill and La Tasca are venues that provide food, beverage and a segregated party area.

Gordon Biersch can handle up to 50 people and offers beer tastings, brewery tours and brewer’s dinners.

Austin Grille can also accommodate up to 50 in its upstairs area. The restaurant bills itself as the ‘‘live music capital of Rockville,” with music nearly every night of the week and a jazz brunch on Sunday.

Greystone Grille has room for both smaller and larger parties. The Chef’s Table can seat up to 25 people and offers a view of the kitchen in action. The Vault seats up to 65 people. Both have state-of-the-art audio⁄visual systems and Internet capabilities.

La Tasca can manage 60 in its back area, 75 at the bar and 200 in the entire restaurant. Smaller parties often choose Thursdays for the Flamenco shows at 8 and 9 p.m.

For larger party venues, Town Square offers other options, and all allow a choice of food and beverage providers.

The Rockville Library has two private rooms that each fit 100. Both rooms hold a small piece of Rockville history. The antique soda fountain in the first-floor meeting room conjures up visions of ice cream socials and vanilla Cokes. The second-floor conference room houses a beautiful old fireplace mantel.

Next door, the Rockville Arts & Innovation Center houses more party space. VisArts has an event room with large windows overlooking Town Square. The room holds 150 for dinner and dancing and 250 for cocktails and has a full audio⁄visual system. VisArts also has several galleries that could be stunning alternatives for a cocktail hour or intimate gathering. The building’s Rooftop Terrace offers more panoramic views of Town Square, though next spring is the earliest booking available. Both VisArts and the Rooftop have full catering kitchens and tables and chairs available to rent.

See the view from VisArts for yourself. The organization will hold its grand opening on Sept. 30. The festivities will start at noon and last until 5 p.m. with ‘‘hours and hours of amazing surprises for the whole family,” according to Sam Agger, director of Advancement & Communications for VisArts. The opening exhibition is ‘‘ZAPP! Comic Books and the Arts.”

One of Rockville’s best-kept secrets is the back room at The Papery. It is lined with party invitations, each one suggesting a different approach to that next celebration. To pull it all together, the manager, Angelique St. Clair, who is a therapist by profession and a party planner by avocation, is available to consult on the event.

See you on the Square!

Sally Sternbach is executive director of Rockville Economic Development Inc., the private-public economic development arm of the City of Rockville. This is part of a series of columns written in conjunction with the opening of Rockville Town Square, the new mixed-use redevelopment project in the heart of the city.