The new Northampton music venue Blackbird is ready to fly.
On Tuesday night, owner Lauryn Winiarski welcomed nearly 50 people to a friends-and-family preview night of their venue, which officially opens Friday.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited for anything,” Winiarski said as guests trickled in before the night kicked off. “I didn’t think it was gonna feel this smooth and this right this quickly, but it really does.”
Blackbird replaces the former Wurst Haus at 27 Pleasant St., between Downtown Sounds and Northampton Wools. It can hold 150 people and it will be open seven nights a week.
Anthony Rueli of Easthampton, a longtime friend of Winiarski’s who attended Tuesday’s soft launch as a guest, has seen the building in several incarnations; he used to work there when it housed both Wurst Haus and McLadden’s. He was impressed with its recent renovations: “There was no wall here. This entire side was the bar,” he said, pointing to the wall separating Blackbird’s main space from the entrance area. “And then it was all booths on this side. … It’s an amazing transformation. It looks beautiful.”
“I don’t think it’s any secret that the town is lacking the live music and just nightlife it once had, so hopefully this will be a huge revitalization,” he said. “Everybody also knows and loves Lauryn and live music, so I think that’s a pretty cool match.”
So far, Winiarski has hired three employees and has “so many resumes right now, it’s actually horrifying.” Bartender Care O’Leary, who lives in Easthampton and also works at the Marigold Café, is a longtime friend of Winiarski’s. “When I saw that they were doing this, I just offered, literally whatever they needed, I would do, so here I am bartending,” O’Leary said.
“We desperately need a place like Blackbird,” O’Leary added. “Lauryn is someone who truly cares about the community and is actually looking out to make a place of quality community. I think it’s gonna be nothing but good here — safe, responsible, respectful environment. I couldn’t be happier.”
Brett Kelley, who lives in Northampton, is not an employee of the venue, but he designed its logo. He and Winiarski first met while working in the entertainment department at Six Flags New England more than a decade ago, and since then, they’ve had “a very, very long, prosperous friendship, for sure,” he said. Kelley said the two have always supported each other’s work.
Winiarski thought Tuesday was a success. “The cheers were so loud, and you can see it really affecting the artists on stage, and it gives that intimacy while leaving everyone plenty of space,” they said.
“I’m so honored that people trusted the condition of my floor enough that they sat down. People sat in a little circle around [Davis],” they said. “It is the most wholesome and sweet thing, and it shows me that I’m exactly on the right track for creating the kind of space I want if that’s how people are reacting to it.”
Winiarski said the community has been supportive thus far.
“I’ve had nothing but positivity — nothing. People have been the sweetest. It is the most support I’ve ever gotten for an idea in my life,” they said. “It’s been great.”
