BIPOC Businesses
The Essence Event Center
There’s a new venue in town - and my guess is, you haven’t heard about it yet!
Nestled amongst the flurry of hotels, restaurants, museums, and shops of Bandana Square in St. Paul, is The Essence Event Center.
The historic Chimneys building, built in 1895, has been beautifully transformed. It was purchased in 2018 by a First-Generation, Vietnamese family who have been involved in supporting jobs for and assisting the Vietnamese community for over 20 years. When planning for their own wedding, one of the owners realized how difficult it was to book a venue that could fit a large number of guests AND allow for culturally-specific catering. For the Vietnamese community, the wedding reception or other special events, have typically been held at a larger Vietnamese restaurant.
I have experienced this “unintentional” form of discrimination, as well as so many others. It is frustrating to have a venue owner tell you that they’re in-house caterer will be able to cook from a recipe you give them, or that there will be an additional $3000 fee to use a different caterer. Many have settled for mediocre foods in order to have a beautiful venue, while others have settled for a venue they don’t love in order to have the food they want. This space is a much-needed addition to the MN community.
I first visited the Essence space pre-pandemic - so around February 2020. I was blown away by the raw building itself, not to mention all the luxurious plans they had in store. The Essence can hold up to 450 people AND they accommodate outside catering with a prep kitchen. To create a picture perfect space for the modern, discriminating couple - there are soaring ceilings with original wood and steel beams meeting polished concrete floors, industrial sized windows lining the historic brick walls and flooding the hall with beautiful natural light, a grand arch doorway guiding you from the Cocktail Hall into the 7,000 square foot cedar timber lined Reception Hall. Tucked in is also state of the art sound and lighting equipment. A courtyard with some green space, fully equipped lounges for the couple and their respective wedding crews, as well as a family style kitchenette, are all part of the space.
Built in 1895, The Chimneys were part of a service area for the Northern Pacific Railway called The Como Shops. The building’s iconic chimney smoke stacks are a remaining clue to its origins as a bustling blacksmith shop. Long ago, trains were driven directly through the front doors for repairs and out the back once work was completed. The large arches now make for an imposing and dramatic entrance, but at the time were necessary to fit gigantic locomotives through the building. The high ceilings and large windows were instrumental in letting in as much natural light as possible to make the complex work less dangerous.
The owners’ favorite part about the space is the history of it. They are so thrilled that they own and have revamped this historic building, and given it a new meaning and purpose especially for their own community. It’s amazing to see the transformation of the space, and the dedication and thought they’ve put into making it a unique and usable space.