Soirée holds ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebrates grand opening

ASHTABULA – It was a packed house at Soirée, a new event hosting business in downtown Ashtabula, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking its grand opening at midday Saturday, March 14.
Greg Church, executive director of the Greater Ashtabula Chamber of Commerce, expressed his happiness with the new business venture and confidence its owners, Yvonne and Kirk Wallace, would succeed.
“We are really excited to be here, really excited to see this development on Main Avenue,” he said. “Obviously, it’s going to improve the growth in downtown, the visibility – it’s beautiful. I know they’re going to be successful just because of the spirit they bring, the passion they bring.”
Guests mingled over hors d’oeuvres as they enjoyed mood music and atmospheric lighting, including a grand chandelier in the center of the hall.
Soirée is located at the former Hershey’s Ice Cream Parlor & Café on Main Avenue and the Wallaces put in a good deal of money and effort renovating the space. It is a mid-sized event center that can host religious services, training sessions, baby and bridal showers, graduation parties, classes and other special events.
Yvonne said she had gotten familiar with the location having held social events for people with disabilities there.
“It was a home away from home for our individuals,” she said. “So, when it came up for sale, I’m thinking it was a good place for us and it’s a safe place.”
Both said they felt gratified by the number of people who’d come out for the grand opening to show their support.
“Nervous excitement,” she said of her feelings. “Looking back on what we achieved, looking at people who came out to (show) support.”
Kirk detailed a good deal of the work that had gone into extensively renovating the space.
“We had to start with the roof, the roof was just terrible,” he said. “So, we had to get the roof replaced. The bad part about it is we were not going to replace the HVAC unit. So, the roof was done around the old unit thinking we could get it to work. We couldn’t get it to work, so we had to remove the HVAC unit and that created more leaks.”
There was also extensive work cleaning up and painting the exterior, reconditioning the white oak hardwood floors inside and replacing all of the lighting with LED fixtures.
“One of the biggest discussions we had was about the chandelier,” he said, adding that he’d hoped to have something simpler in case it was damaged. Yvonne, however, insisted on keeping it.
“He did not want the chandelier at all,” Yvonne said.
“Now that she did it, its’s the centerpiece of the room,” he said, then joked, “I reluctantly acquiesced.”
Kirk said he was glad he did, as the chandelier lights up the room and creates a real party atmosphere.
Kirk and Yvonne said they are new to hosting events, but have several other business ventures in the community. They’ve already been “flooded” with inquiries and are scheduling showings for potential clients.
Soirée is located at 4601 Main Ave., Ashtabula. For more information, call 440-404-7363 or visit soireeeventcenter.com or facebook.com/soireeeventcenter.