NORTHAMPTON — Fifty years ago, Roger Kirwood opened a new restaurant across the intersection of Main Street and Strong Avenue in Northampton. Inspired by a 1967 film where Dick Van Dyke plays a highly intelligent but loyal butler, Kirwood named the restaurant “Fitzwilly’s” after the title character.

The opening of the restaurant marked the beginning of a new era for the city’s downtown, with many other bars, restaurants and shops soon following.

“We got some empty storefronts now, but when I got here there were many, many more,” said Fred Gohr, who began working for Kirwood in 1979 and now has taken over as the owner of Fitzwilly’s. “The kitchen was not really as equipped as it is now. The food was much simpler back then. But Fitzwilly’s has never pretended to be fine dining. We’re a good, solid consistent meal, day in and day out, for a fair price.”

Wednesday marks the 50-year anniversary for Fitzwilly’s, and the restaurant plans to celebrate with commemorative T-shirts and drink glasses. But there are also plans to mark the occasion by giving back to the community.

The restaurant will donate half of its gross sales on Wednesday to Manna Community Kitchen, with the funds going toward the organization’s annual Thanksgiving Day dinner, where Manna is expected to serve hundreds of free meals both in-person at Edwards Church and delivered throughout the community.

“We’re expecting to do about 1,500 meals that day. We did 1,300 last year,” said Kaitlyn Ferrari, the development director for Manna. “We’re definitely expecting a huge increase, because we are serving more people than we have in the last year.”

Gohr said the decision to partner with Manna for the anniversary came from a longstanding friendship with Lee Anderson, who runs the kitchen that also provides laundry service and showers to those in need.

“I’ve known Lee for probably 40 of the 45 years that I’ve been around here,” Gohr said. “He was a computer tech guy, and he always did a lot of our tech work around here. Then he became involved in Manna, and I just kind of followed his career through that, so I thought it made a great fit.”

According to Ferrari, the average meal costs Manna $2.63 to provide (with around 300 meals served daily), and the Thanksgiving event usually costs around $5,000, in addition to the other services Manna provides.

“We have a whole community center staff where you can get clothing and any needed outerwear, and we help anyone in need of housing,” Ferrari. “So we’re a lot more than just a meal service.”

As for Fitzwilly’s, Gohr said he expects the anniversary occasion to bring more customers than the restaurant would usually see on a normal day in the middle of the week.

“I think we’re gonna blow it away,” Gohr said. “I think we’re gonna do double what we usually do on a Wednesday.”

Ferrari and other staff at Manna intend to visit the restaurant for its anniversary, as will members of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce.

“I’ll be here twice,” Ferrari said regarding her plans for the anniversary. “You’ll see a lot of familiar and friendly faces.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.