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Presently my family and approximately 36 additional people (plus God himself) strive to operate Hoofer's Restaurant and Gospel Barn. The Barn itself, was born in 1948 to serve the people of Troup County and surrounding communities as a "livestock" selling facility. It was called LaGrange Stockyard and served many families in it's "hey-day". It was the most modern and active stockyards between Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta Georgia. The idea of a stockyard probably came about because of the mule sales that took place in Atlanta in the late 1930's. Mules were the #1 industry in Atlanta during that period.
I bought into the barn in 1990, or thereabout, to try and maintain a family gathering place for the agricultural community. We operated the stockyard for approximately (3) three years. During these years, we sold livestock on Thursday and operated a small restaurant on the east end, which existed since the barn originated. The pens and receiving area were attached to the southern part of the barn (This is where the Gospel Barn section is today.)
We enlarged the restaurant (7) seven years ago. We had a contest with the people to give the restaurant a name. Frank Bray, the restaurant manager and myself, choose "Hoofers" as the name. We liked the name "Southern Pride" better but it was the name of a sausage company.
The Gospel Barn came about by holding gospel singings in the main sales area on Saturday night.  These singings began about (5) five years ago and were held every other Saturday night. Our first singing took place on a night in October. We had (2) local groups to perform. By chance one group came out of Thomaston Georgia.
Bluegrass music came later as we began to invite professional gospel groups to perform on Thursday night. One of those groups was the Issac's. The groups would come for $200 plus an offering taken up from among the crowd.
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In June 1998, we arranged for Ricky Scaggs, The White's, and Cedar Creek of Panama City, Florida to do a concert in the newly renovated barn, which was our cow penning area. Approximately 550 attended. The following Saturday we had Jim & Jesse, the Virginia Boys, Sonny & Bob Osborne, and about (5) five other bands. Approximately 250 people attended. Now we average around 800+ at each Gospel Singing and 600+ at each Bluegrass Show.
Our purpose is to serve our Lord and Master, try to please and make many families happy and eventually break even financially. With God's strength and your support, all the above will forever take place.
Our motto is simple and steadfast :
"In God We Trust"
Thank You,
Rick and Bea Torrance.
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