Photo courtesy of Matt Lyons.
Progress is being made on the new outdoor pavilion at Cat-n-Bird Winery. It will accommodate over 200 guests for outdoor events.
Since opening to the public in April 2017, Cat-n-Bird Winery has continued to grow and recently expanded its space off Old Highway 280 with a new outdoor covered pavilion, which will increase its seating capacity and provide another option for outdoor weddings.
Owner Matt Lyons purchased the property across the street from the winery with the intention of building a new winery but decided to add on his existing property instead.
“As we were going to build a new venue, we had to rethink everything,” Lyons said. “What we did instead was decide to build a pavilion. It will be a space that should seat around 200. To say we’re excited is an understatement.”
In addition to using the pavilion for weddings, it will also provide more space for the winery’s regular Saturday food truck and live music events.
Lyons said the current venue was bound by space and its use was weather dependent, but the new covered area addresses those challenges.
Previously, weddings and events were limited to 100 guests, because that was the indoor capacity in the event of inclement weather. Now, more weddings and events can be booked with the additional covered space.
The new pavilion will feature a 32-foot by 75-foot concrete slab with large fans for the summer and heaters for the winter; hanging lights; a galvanized steel roof; wooden poles; railroad ties; rocks and landscaping; and a wheelchair-accessible ramp entrance.
“We wanted to keep it open for COVID[-19] — not just 19, but whatever is next,” he said. “We may put some sort of temporary siding on it in the winter. All the space we have now will be more of a walk through. We will also replace the two big windows on the lower level with French doors.”
Cat-n-Bird shut down during the first week of COVID-19 as the team figured out their next steps. Lyons said they soon opened up for bottle pickup and then began bringing in food trucks.
“We moved tents and brought the wine up to sell by the bottle,” he said. “We also made friends with the food truck vendors, and they didn’t have a place to go so we invited them over. Guests could come pick up a bottle of wine and get lunch. From March until August 2020, we didn’t do any events with people.”
As soon as the winery reopened to guests, the food trucks continued to come every Saturday, and live music returned, which continues to happen every weekend.
Even despite the pandemic, 2020 was Cat-n-Bird Winery’s best year yet. It booked 27 weddings last year and experienced 20% growth. Lyons said they are currently on track to double the business they did last year.
With the increase in wine production, Lyons said they also had to increase their cellar space. They currently have 20 wines and get their grapes and juice from multiple distributors around the world including California, Italy, South America and Australia.
“We can pick and choose,” he said. “We are a community-driven winery, so we find out what people like and see if we can find it.”
In addition to wines, Cat-n-Bird Winery offers wine slushies, three different kinds of champagne, sparkling wines and prosecco pops (wine poured in a glass with a Steel City Pop placed inside).
Lyons and his wife Robyn continue to work their full-time jobs, his in IT sales and hers as a physical therapist, as well as run the winery. They have eight part-time employees to assist on weekends and with weddings and other events. Cat-n-Bird Winery currently hosts three to four events per week, from the Saturday food trucks and live music, weddings, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, and even celebrations of life. They are closed two days per year: the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the Saturday closest to Christmas.
For more information about the winery, booking events and more, visit cat-n-bird.com or follow it on social media at @catnbirdwinery.
