Happening today at 2Brews

Check out the exhibition in the building. A group of friends have transformed the space for the Street Fair weekend. I know it's been a while - you'll find us at 31 South Main Street, Columbiana.

All art work will be for sale in a cash and carry only sale with partial proceeds to benefit The Way Station.

A silent auction will also be held on a piece of art work that will be designed during the exhibition with all proceeds to benefit The Way Station.

Hope to see you there!

Auction Tonight

There is an online auction that ends tonight for a Bennigan's that went out of business. We are hoping to pick up a little furniture and equipment. We'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for your thoughts on the food....lots to chew on ;)

Time for a Survey

We are in the process of purchasing equipment for 2Brews and we need a little help. To meet the hunger needs of those choosing to fellowship at 2Brews (as well as fulfill a requirement of the state) we will need to serve food along with our fine beverages. Because our calling is not to be a restaurant, per se, we will concentrate on one food type and purchase the applicable equipment. There are two possibilities in the running.

1.)New York Style Deli Sandwiches. Good quality bread would hold together a huge mound of quality cold cuts with all the desired fixens. A crisp dill pickle and a bag of chips would probably round out the order.

2.)Personal sized pizzas. From joe sixpack's favorite cheese and pepperoni to something a little more interesting like Goat cheese and shitaki mushrooms (and everything in between) the pizzas would be hot fresh and the perfect size guaranteed to satisfy even a strong appetite.

Let us know which sounds the best to you. If you have another idea, thats great, we want to hear it - but while your at it give us a vote #1 or #2.

Some Progress

Here are some pictures of what the building looks like right now. It's looked better and it's looked worse....Right now it continues to be FULL of potential (We're definitely going to want to do something about the exposed toilet).

We're Still Here

You may have thought that since we haven't posted in a while, that we've changed our plans....Not at all. Here are how things stand right now...

We have the 2brews building in Columbiana: the storefront level is cleaned out and ready to be prepped for 2brews. One of the upstairs apartments is rented (by a great renter). The other apartment has been our project lately (thanks, Steve and Jon). It needed painted and old carpet removed, etc. It should be move-in-ready soon, so (again) if you know of someone who may be looking for a space, let us know.

We've also purchased a house in Columbiana that needs quite a bit of work. We've done some stuff (thanks again, Jon&Steve - also Eric and John G.) Focus on this house is next on the list. We want to get moved into it, so we can then rent our house on South Ave. It may seem that all of these things are keeping us from 2brews, but in reality, they all work together. The income generated from the rentals is part of what will allow us to work on 2brews.

We're here. Can't wait to put some of this behind us and get on to the fun stuff of designing/working on 2brews!

Congratulations, Mom!

Last night we had a great time at 2Brews. We honored my mom with a surprise graduation party. After raising 5 kids and helping to raise over a dozen grandkids, my mom returned to school and completed her Bachelor’s degree. It was fun to honor her. It was also fun to have the opportunity to bring together a variety of extraordinary people.

I spent much of the evening standing back and watching as friendship formed. I love hearing the buzz of conversation. And I loved the opportunity to connect with people with whom I rarely, if ever, come into contact with.

The room looked awesome too – thanks to Sherri Garver and friends. They used the 2Brews building last weekend for a Creative Workshop. Steve and I were out of town, but I hear from Sherri that it was a great weekend. Several local artists offered to display their work for the creative weekend and were kind enough to leave it up for this weekend.

As I write this post, I am sitting in a Tim Hortons. All the chairs look alike, the signs and counter look like any other fast food place. To me it feels sterile. All around me, though, conversations are happening. The group of 10 retired men behind me are definitely sharing friendship, interesting conversation, & community. I hear discussion of politics (local and national), local happenings, personal snipits of family life...

I say all that to say that maybe the ‘look’ of the building is not as important as I think it is (at least if you are hoping to cater to a bunch of retired men☺). Still, the more time I spend in the building the more I think about how I want it to feel in there. I want it to be comfortable. I want it to invite people to stay – whether they are looking for conversation or just someplace to work on their laptop.

I love the ‘rough’ look of the building that is there right now. One of our goals will be to not to improve the building right out of its personality. Don't you think?