Imagine the best part of the Renaissance Festival — turkey legs the size of a VW bus — coming to downtown Lawrence. Now imagine them being Jamaican jerk turkey legs, and that they are available late at night after partaking at a new reggae hangout. What am I talking about? Downtown Lawrence is set to get a new Caribbean-themed restaurant and bar.

Mike Logan, owner of the popular downtown concert venue The Granada, has told me he’s taken over the spot next door that previously housed the bar Fatso’s. Logan closed Fatso’s a couple of weeks ago and is in the process of remaking the facility into Lucia Beer Garden plus Grill.

Before we get too far, I don’t want you sounding like a landlubber: Lucia is pronounced Loo-sha, like the beautiful St. Lucia island in the Caribbean. Logan said he chose the name because he just liked how it sounded. (I’ve been told if you sat through a Bob Marley concert, lots of words started sounding groovy.)

As for the Jamaican menu that will be part of the establishment, Logan said he was looking for something that downtown didn’t already have. Plus, Logan already knew the operators of G’s Jamaican Cuisine, a 22-year old Jamaican restaurant in Kansas City. The folks at G’s will be doing all the training and oversight for the food part of the business.

“People who have been to the Caribbean have a lot of great memories of the Caribbean,” Logan said. “I just wanted to create something that’s a fun, casual dining experience in downtown.”

The Fatso’s location, 1016 Massachusetts, long has a food element to it. The business has had a small window that served food to walk-up customers along Massachusetts Street. Pyramid Pizza was there for quite awhile, and a host of other food concepts have come and gone there. The food window will remain, and indeed Logan plans to serve late-night jerk turkey legs.

“I think those will be a big hit,” Logan said. “It will be easy to grab and keep on going.”

Also look for other “Caribbean street food,” such as a cone of dirty rice, beans and chicken, meat and veggie patties and other such dishes. But Logan said Lucia will have much more of a restaurant feel than Fatso’s ever did. Beginning in September, Lucia will offer full table service both inside and on a patio that is at the back of the building. Look for more involved dishes on that menu, including jerk chicken, curried goat, ox tail, a veggie plate, red snapper and other dishes.

At first, the restaurant likely only will serve dinner and late night, but Logan said he wants to soon thereafter begin offering lunch service on the weekends, and perhaps even delivery service to the growing number of downtown residences.

“I want to it to grow beyond just Jamaican food too,” Logan said. “I want it to be a Caribbean menu. We’ll want to pull in some signature dishes from Costa Rica, from Puerto Rico and from other Caribbean or coastal countries.”

Folks can get a bit of a taste of the concept tonight at the Lawrence Reggae Fest, which is organized by Logan. He said a limited menu of Caribbean food will be served out of the old Fatso’s window tonight, plus G’s Jamaican Cuisine is expected to have its food truck at the event. Look for Lucia to fully open in early September.

• If you have forgotten about Reggae Fest, don’t worry, man, be happy. The event is set for 6:30 tonight in the vacant lot next to the Granada at 1020 Massachusetts St. Massachusetts Street will remain open during the event, but a portion of the sidewalk in that block will be closed for use by the event organizers. UPDATE: Organizers have moved the show inside the Granada due to forecasts for inclement weather tonight.

The Wailers, a group that includes some original members of the band for the late Bob Marley is the headline event. The event is free to attend, but Logan asks people to bring either a donation of canned fruit, peanut butter or cereal. All food items collected will be donated to the food bank Just Food.

• While we are talking events, mark your calendars for several events that city commissioners have approved to use city streets. Here’s a look:

• The Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association will be hosting Rock the Block — Kick Cancer Event on Oct. 7. The street party type of event will involve the closure of West 29th Terrace between Iowa Street and Four Wheel Drive. That’s one of the streets that runs through Lawrence Auto Plaza in south Lawrence, in case you are confused.

• Plan on a food truck festival on Oct. 23 in the 700 block of Vermont Street in front of the Lawrence Public Library. A group called Savor Lawrence will host the event. A good portion of the 700 block of Vermont Street will be closed to traffic in order to accommodate the food trucks and beer garden.

• KU’s Homecoming Parade again will be downtown. The parade is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Oct. 21, and will start at South Park and head north on Massachusetts. The KU Alumni Association also has received a permit to close the 100 block of East Eighth Street for much of the day and evening to host a pep rally, beer garden and other such festivities.

• The Om Tree Yoga Studio has received a permit to use various city streets in the downtown area for something called the Yirah Tri(be) 5K on Oct. 9. The morning race would involve the rolling closure of some streets while race participants run through the area. No word on how yoga will be incorporated in the race. If I run, I plan to skip the Downward Dog position, but almost certainly will end up in the Tired Puppy pose.