CHICOPEE/LONGMEADOW/HAMPDEN – The impact that COVID-19 has had on restaurants throughout the country is well-known. Many had to install outdoor dining areas, enforce table limits and adhere to curfew restrictions. However, banquet halls, country clubs and large event spaces are often overlooked. These venues are known for hosting weddings, sports tournaments and parties, which now seem like ideas of the past given the pandemic. In Western Massachusetts, some local banquet halls and country clubs have managed to stay afloat by hosting much smaller events, while others have had to remain closed for almost a year.

Twin Hills Country Club in Longmeadow relied mainly on their golf course to keep revenue up over the past year. According to General Manager Attilio Cardaropoli, many people spent time outside on their golf range through November before it became too cold. He said that membership play was up about 25 percent compared to previous years.

“There wasn’t much else for people to do or any place to go, so golf was a huge addition to members and people that are in this area,” said Cardaropoli.

Although recreational golf play was up for the country club, golf tournaments were canceled due to COVID-19. This lost the country club a lot of revenue, said Cardaropoli.

The Clubhouse is Twin Hill’s event and dining space. With the pandemic, Cardaropoli said that The Clubhouse struggled. Given the capacity restrictions with COVID-19, many people were choosing to host their own small events rather than spend the money on large spaces they couldn’t fill. During the summer, however, Twin Hills expanded their patio for outdoor dining.

“Luckily, we’re one of the few places that have an outdoor patio and a tent outside … We had over 8,000 square feet of space. We didn’t have any problems with outside space, it’s all inside space that’s a problem,” he said.

During the summer, Twin Hills hosted four events that were 10 people or less. Cardaropoli said that, prior to COVID-19, The Clubhouse would host at least six or seven events a week throughout the year. Events ranged from weddings, bar mitzvahs, showers, birthday parties, sporting events, high school events and more. The country club also had to reduce their staff about 30 to 40 percent, according to Cardaropoli.

“We had a lot of traffic on the patio over the summertime when nobody could go inside and that really helped immensely. We’re still hurting financially because of all the restrictions that are on for us not to have any weddings or outside events like that and not being able to have any charity-type tournaments on the golf course. It really put a damper on us. We’re struggling, but we’re gonna make it no problem and we’re gonna be better because we’re still expanding our situation here at the club,” he said.

The Starting Gate by GreatHorse in Hampden also felt the effects of COVID-19. From March to June, The Starting Gate did not host events and many brides had to cancel or reschedule their weddings given Gov. Charlie Baker’s restrictions. In June, The Starting Gate was able to open back up for small-scale events.

“Everything was canceled or postponed starting in March through June and that’s when things were lifted and we had more guidelines as to what to do. A lot of our brides and so forth who want to have a real wedding, where they want everyone to be there and not wearing masks, rescheduled. But other than that, everyone who wanted to get married got married. It was more intimate and probably the most important people were at their celebration,” said Cathy Stephens, director of catering.

The Starting Gate also pivoted to help increase revenue during the pandemic. According to Stephens, they created an Elopement Package and a Micro-Wedding Package for people who still wanted to get married, but couldn’t have a big wedding due to COVID-19 or who didn’t want a big wedding to begin with.

“They’ve been successful and actually they’ve brought a whole different group of people. The smaller parties that probably wanted to come here could do it,” said Stephens.

Guests who did have 2020 weddings at The Starting Gate had to adhere to the restrictions in place. Stephens said all the events had a capacity limit, everyone had to wear masks, there could only be six people at a table and there was no dance floor. She said these events went through the holidays and have since died down, given the weather and the stricter limits from Baker.

“The restrictions are so tight right now and you can’t really do anything outside since it’s cold,” she said.

Looking ahead, Stephens said she is excited for the spring bridal season, but has also begun to see some brides postpone their weddings again.

“We’re finding that there’s still a little bit of uneasiness about it. People still don’t want to have COVID weddings, so we are seeing some weddings moving again to 2022. We’re also, at the same time, picking up weddings too,” she said.

The Castle of Knights in Chicopee is one event venue that has stayed closed since the beginning of the pandemic. The Castle of Knights has had to lay off all of their workers except for two, one being Director of Operations, Susan Skorka.

The Castle of Knights has a 775 person capacity and hosts large-scale events on a regular basis, prior to COVID-19. With restrictions, Skorka said it didn’t make sense for them to be open or hosting smaller events.

“To open up a large venue when you’re only allowed to have 25 people really is not a good financial decision. I believe it might cost more to do something like that than the people would actually pay,” she said.

Skorka said that many people canceled their events in 2020 and chose to instead host more intimate gatherings at their homes. In order to stay afloat, Skorka said The Castle of Knight’s Board had to apply for COVID-19 grants and assistance.

“I can’t imagine there would be any other way that we would be able to sustain ourselves with no revenue for a full year,” she said.

Despite their challenges, The Castle of Knights does plan on reopening when it is safe to do so. Skorka said they are already booking some events for the end of 2021 and into 2022.

“We do plan on opening. Our chef is furloughed, so his job is there when this is all over. We are booking, so we do see a future for us,” she said.

With COVID-19 cases still rising and new variants spreading across the United States, Skorka does recognize that their future is still unknown despite these bookings.

“I’m hoping we open… Do I think there’s a possibility of not opening this year? It’s definitely out there. I mean, look around, you know. Do I want to start over? No. I don’t want to go somewhere else and start over. That’s a question that’s definitely on the minds of any staff that’s hopeful for coming back… Our chef, our prep guys, our bartenders… They call us all every week. ‘Hey do you have any news for us?’ They stay in touch, there’s just nothing I can give them,” she said.

With COVID-19, it’s clear that many of the event spaces in the area have struggled. However, staff seems to remain hopeful on a successful future and a big comeback after the virus subsides.

“We’re looking to get back in it and I think people are going to really, really celebrate when this all gets lifted. I think it’s going to be great,” said Stephens.

Cardaropoli feels much of the same.

“We’re hoping that, with the vaccine that’s out and being administered now, within the next few months we’ll be able to go back to some form of normalcy. We’re hoping that, at least as the weather improves, our outdoor dining facilities will pick up quite a bit. Our hope is that the golf tournaments, wedding parties, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties and all of those slowly start to come back and we can get back on our feet,” he said.