01/04/2025
This post will be a little long. After long talks with my father who put this all together we have decided to close our doors at Smoking Guns. He is 90 years young but has slowed down both in walking and hearing. We are in a fortunate enough position to be able to pull back and spend time with family so he has decided to retire from daily work. It was never about making a ton of money. We have seen nights of 400 to nights of 50. Good days and bad would be expected. My parents just wanted to recreate what they built 20 years ago on Route 5 in Kirkland. We feel that we succeeded in building a family friendly country venue that many could enjoy. From the majority of responses we feel that we were correct. We treated every band and support staff with respect and appreciated every one of their performances. Our staff rotated because in all honesty we have only been open 81 days since our kickoff. Again going back to the point of profit. If we were in for that we would be open 7 days a week and promoting different ideas and performances. The chatter that always comes about from an opening or a closing is mainly due to the relative small size of our area and the limited expendable income. Everyone is fighting for the same customers. That was never our goal. From the line dancing classes and instructors to staff and to all involved we appreciate everyone who has attended and supported us. We wish everyone good health in the new year and please go out and support all of these great bands at the various good venues that are around from Vernon to the valley. Thank you so much.
