Garrett Mitchell
Tables and chairs are placed stage center at The Spinning Ginny.
Garrett Mitchell
The hallway has some work ahead caused by water damage.
Jim Fair
The memorabilia belonging to the Greer Opry House former managers have been sold and auctioned.
The 70-year-old building at 107 Cannon Street was formerly the home of the Greer Opry House. The building was damaged during the statewide floods and record rain of Oct. 3, prompting additional repairs and the belated opening.
The music and arts venue had been scheduled to host its grand opening this week.
"(The water damage) was pretty severe," General Manager Sharon Murry said. "We have to work on the whole roof and the whole back had to be redone.
"Then the inside walls had to be taken out to deal with the water damage," Murry said.
Despite the damage, she said having to push back the grand opening has been beneficial in some ways.
A full kitchen is being installed in the back of the building, and the delay is providing sufficient time for it to be completed.
"That pushed us back significantly but it also helped propel us in another way because it's forcing us to even faster work on getting in our kitchen," Murry said.
"The back will be a full kitchen so it's making us do it a lot quicker than we had originally intended to do," Murry said.
Still, The Spinning Jenny is able to host events.
Two concerts, The Jacob Johnson Group with special guest Beardsby and The Electric City Outlaws are scheduled Saturday and next Thursday.
Cost for the shows is $10 and $8, respectively.
Also planned is a family friendly Halloween party scheduled for Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. and an arts and crafts show on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21.
"We do have other things that are happening but as far as an official grand opening where everything is ready to go, it has to be pushed off," Murry said.
Murry does have a timetable for an official kick-off celebration of The Spinning Jenny.
"As far as the grand opening, we're looking at something towards the beginning of December now," Murry said.
Steve Sandlin, owner of The Spinning Jenny, is certain the ongoing efforts will help bring to life a new platform to bring music and the arts to Greer.
Once open, Sandlin said, The Spinning Jenny will incorporate aspects of the old Opry House with his new vision for the venue.
"One thing we're doing which is going to be extremely beneficial to the city of Greer is we're going to be able to bring in larger music events which I think Greer needs a lot," Sandlin said.
"The square dancing and country music is still going to be there, we're just going to extend a little bit and do some other things too," Sandlin said.