BUYER BEWARE:
On…read more4/12/2026 I held a Celebration of Life event for my mother at Iron Front in Lewisburg Pa. Literally nothing was prepared for the event ahead of time. I arrived an hour ahead and had to go looking for staff repeatedly, which continued to be the case even after people were arriving for the event at the appointed time.
I paid $475 for drinks for 100 people that were non-existent. I was so occupied with other things not done, that it wasn't until way into the event that I realized the drinks had not been set up for the event. The only drinks sitting out were from the prior event that had been held that day! There was warm and watered down "iced" tea and water from the prior event. It was brought to my attention by attendees that there were no drinkable beverages. Soft drinks were to be available on ice. None were. I went to staff, and again this was way into the event, and a woman came and poured ice on top of the tea and water that had been there from the event hours before. My mother had done so much for her community, including having been a District Governor in the Lions Club. It was an embarrassment that people didn't even have basic beverages available to drink.
I was assured a microphone would be available for the event. This was very important as the event was centered around a eulogy and people being able to come forward and tell stories about my mother. Eventually, after several prior attempts and not long before the event was to begin, (even into the time when people were arriving), I desperately pled with Nick to come help me with plugging in my music (from my mother's era), a slide presentation, and getting a mic for the event. These were all things I was assured would be available for the event.
Nick brought two mics and informed me he had changed the batteries, which I don't question. However, less than 15 minutes into the event, as I was presenting the eulogy, my mic went dead and the other one did not work. This limited our ability to effectively communicate during the event. Also, the slide presentation stopped as soon as a screensaver came on so that didn't work, but...okay.
I had requested tables for 100 people and the event coordinator and I had agreed to an arrangement ahead. There were tables for around 36 persons and not as agreed. I would repeatedly have to go back to rooms to try to locate staff and get someone to come back and continue to set up the tables. This task was still incomplete when guests started arriving. As guests were arriving there was one staff person (I do not know his name - he was an African American male) who was working very hard, even putting up tables alone, and also helping at the end of the event.
I had ordered and paid for several white tablecloths. They were not provided. Again, I kept asking staff to provide them.
There was one long white tablecloth on the table where the food was to be placed. The tablecloth was dirty from the prior event that had been held earlier in the day. Since the caterer could not get someone to change the tablecloth and guests were about to arrive, they did their best to cover up the dirty table cloth by putting food over those spots. However, one could still see that the tablecloth was dirty.
A beautiful large floral arrangement and another bouquet had arrived for the event and were sitting in a separate room. I could not handle the large floral arrangement and had to ask a few times to get someone to bring in the flowers. If I had not persisted, they would not have been put in the room.
In total, I paid $1722 for this event. I was responsible for planning this event for our family and on my end was prepared. It was a difficult time, obviously, with the loss of our mother. Walking into this disaster at that time was something I never would expect from a reputable business. I thought I was renting a lovely space for a final goodbye to my mother. Instead, guests were walking in and things were a mess. They had no drinks for the 2 1/2 hours of the event.
It was an incredibly stressful experience. I don't expect perfection; however, this was way beyond and completely unacceptable.
Additionally, I find it noteworthy that I was not allowed to have the name of a contact person, manager, owner. I think that says a lot in itself. However, I was able to locate and contact him re: my concerns, to no avail. He has not responded.
