Years ago, when Earl’s was still selling fuel, Bruce Elwell hung a sign out front of his Meeting House Lane service station that read: “Cheapest gas in town.”

Chuck Kinnane jokes that while it was true and he loves Earl’s, the funny thing about the sign was that it was the only gas in town. So when his spouse Karey Kinnane came up with an idea that has since evolved into “Village Green,” a community space and monthly gathering in Adamsville, he remembered that sign and the parallels it has with the new venture, and the current state of Little Compton:

“We are going to have the cheapest and tallest beer in town,” he joked. “It’s true — you can’t really get a beer anywhere else.”

On Thursday, Village Green LLC earned unanimous town council approval to stage a monthly community gathering and beer garden at 22 Main St. in Adamsville, opposite the end of Crandall Road. It kicks off the third weekend of May with a clambake, and will run one Friday and Saturday per month through the middle of October.

Friends Jeff Azize, Doug Casey, Alec Moniz and the Kinnanes came up with the idea after this year’s World’s Shortest St. Paddy’s Day parade, when Karey Kinnane noted how many people have met at the parade. Wouldn’t it be cool, she suggested, to hold a festival, like a Portuguese feast or a clambake, to keep that community feel going? The friends ran with it.

“A lot of restaurants are closing and there is a lack of food options in town,” Chuck Kinnane said. “There aren’t many places for anyone, of any age, to get together. We don’t have the means to bankroll a new restaurant, but we can open a field, no problem.”

“I’m excited about this idea,” council member Victoria Talbot, who helped Village Green members through the necessary town paperwork, said. Little Compton has “precious few opportunities and space to get together as a community. I’m very much a proponent of this and excited about it.”

The Village green kicks off Memorial Day weekend, Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24, with a clambake by Jason Oliveira of Compton Clambakes, who is also a partner with Nathan Brown and Sarah Fisler in The Backyard in Westport. From there, there will be a rotating cast of local food trucks and other vendors, artists and more, and the season ends with an Oktoberfest in mid-October.

There will be bocce, bucket golf and cornhole, and other games and fun things to do. Those who attend are invited to bring chairs and blankets or sit at picnic tables, and there could be outdoor trivia nights and low key acoustic music, though that’s not set yet.

Beer and wine (no hard alcohol), as well as non-alcoholic beverages, will be served by certified bartenders, there will be a police detail for every running, ADA-accessible portable restrooms will be set up, and the plan is to cap the number of participants at any one time to 200.

“We are committed to maintaining a clean, safe and respectful environment and will comply with all town licensing and permitting requirements,” Village Green principals wrote in their proposal to the town.

While he gave all the credit for the idea to the other LLC members and town councilors, police chief Scott Raynes, the zoning official and others, Kinnane told council members Thursday that he’s excited to be a part of something that will support local businesses, artists and others, and will strengthen the community’s ties.

“We just want people to come and hang out,” he said Monday. “We want to respect our neighbors, keep everything low key and quiet, and have a good time.”

Dates

The dates for this years’ Village Green are Friday and Saturday May 23 and 24, June 20 and 21, July 4 and 5, August 8 and 9, Sept. 5 and 6, and Oct. 10 and 11.