Danielle Ray\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
STERLING \u2014 The 228 has been the site of many celebrations \u2014 happy occasions, including weddings, baby showers, birthdays and graduations; and even somber ones such as celebrations of life \u2014 an honor of which the mother and daughter co-owners team is proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a great option for people because we are a locally owned business that affords people a lot of flexibility and options without making them do all the work,\u201d said Sharon Olsen, who opened The 228 with her mother, Patricia Fisher, six years ago.<\/p>\n
Olsen, who grew up in Sterling and has lived in Princeton with her family since 2009, has the role of general manager at the functions facility, which sits on the picturesque Leominster Road property where the popular Twin Oaks restaurant used to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to keep the property as one intact parcel after finding out The Twin Oaks was closing and there was interest to divide it into housing lots,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cIt\u2019s a place my mother has always loved, and we\u00a0<\/b>wanted to be able to continue to share it going forward as a lovely indoor and outdoor place to host private events.\u201d<\/p>\n
They originally intended to remodel Twin Oaks, but when they discovered it just wasn\u2019t viable given its condition, they started from scratch.<\/p>\n
After Twin Oaks was used for controlled burn training exercises by Sterling Fire and other local departments, they \u201cdecided a barn was an appropriate replacement, compatible with the town and the area\u2019s history of agriculture, a chair factory and a tea house,\u201d Olsen said.<\/p>\n
Since they slid the big red barn doors open for their first wedding on June 3, 2016, they have hosted more than 400 events, from intimate to large. The facility is available to reserve seven days a week. While the majority of the functions are weddings, they also host corporate events and occasions of all types.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have choices about their event size, details, and budget while still utilizing The 228\u2019s planning tools, staff expertise, and rental items onsite and to make the process streamlined, stress free and fun,\u201d Olsen said of their clients. \u201cThen at the end of the event, we do all the cleaning and pack up for you, included.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like so many others in the functions and events sector, The 228 had to close when the pandemic shutdown hit in 2020.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, because they have an expansive outdoor area where many events are held, they were able to reopen within a few months and offer choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe closed and reopened as required by state mandate, but as an indoor and outdoor facility we always gave our clients, when able to do so, the option to move forward with smaller events, move them outside, follow social distancing guidelines, or split them up and host the ceremony that year and reschedule the larger reception the following year,\u201d Olsen said of how they managed those challenging times. \u201cEveryone was struggling with dealing with the pandemic. We didn\u2019t want peoples\u2019 weddings to be another horrible memory from 2020. We were as flexible as we could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said they have some exciting things in the works, \u201ctwo upgrades\u201d that they are happy to share with their clients and that people should \u201cstay tuned.\u201dThey will be rolling out their customer portal this fall, just before the holidays and, Olsen said, \u201cFinally, after six years, thank you for your patience,\u201d they have WiFi, thanks to the Sterling Municipal Light Department\u2019s Local Area Municipal Broadband, fiber-optic internet service.<\/p>\n
When asked what she enjoys most about her job, Olsen did not hesitate to say, \u201cmeeting new people and hearing their unique event visions,\u201d and added that they \u201cenjoy hosting parties for our local emergency services and charity events that are near and dear to our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
She and her mother and their team of dedicated staff\u0081 members are grateful for the community backing they have received over the years, which has undoubtedly helped to shape their success, and they are now accepting reservation for 2023 and 2024 events \u201cThank you very much for your continued support,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cWe are not perfect, but work hard to exceed your customer service expectations and deliver the best value for each event. Constant improvement is always a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Danielle Ray STERLING \u2014 The 228 has been the site of many celebrations \u2014 happy occasions, including weddings, baby showers, birthdays and graduations; and even somber ones such as celebrations of life \u2014 an honor of which the mother and daughter co-owners team is proud. \u201cWe are a great option for people because we are a locally owned business that aff\u0081ords people a lot of fl\u008dexibility and options without making them do all the work,\u201d said Sharon Olsen, who opened The 228 with her mother, Patricia Fisher, six years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}