Jethro's Bar + Stage Will Be A Gathering Place For Local Musicians

Jethro’s Bar + Stage, owned by Kayla Howran, will open in the location of the former Sapphire Room, on Friday.

The mural at Jethro’s was painted by local artist Tim Wales. Photo by Luke Best.

Jethro’s was born in hopes to provide a small venue for artists to showcase their talents, in a cozy space with a small crowd.

As a musician herself, Howran notes how many great, larger venues are in Peterborough like The Red Dog, Market Hall and The Gordon Best theatre, though she thinks there is still room for a more intimate space.

“I feel like Peterborough has lost a lot of it’s smaller venues over the years. Some maybe due to COVID, some maybe not,” she said. “Whatever the reason I feel like we’ve lost those great, small stages.”

Howran owns Huck’s Lakeside Bar + Restaurant in Buckhorn, a seasonal restaurant, and hopes that Jethro’s will keep her busy the rest of the year.

Melissa Payne, local musician, will be the first to officially take stage at Jethro’s on their opening night, Friday. Payne is set to begin playing at 9 and Howran says she will stop whenever they see fit.

“If the crowd wants to hear more, if they’re enjoying themselves, we’ll keep going.”

The bar will be closed Monday and open the rest of the week, with an anticipated opening time of 4 p.m. daily.

Howran hopes to be able to provide matinees for parents and families to be able to enjoy, as well as late night performances.

“I think that’s important, my husband and I have two kids and there’s very few places to take them,” she said. “I can’t think of anything nicer than a Sunday afternoon going out for lunch and listening to some good local music.”

Jethro’s is inspired by the natural world, with plenty of natural wood interior, plants and a mural by artist Tim Wales.

While Howran knew hwat she wanted her new bar to look like, she also knew she wanted to preserve a bit of the iconic Sapphire Room that lived in that space for 24 years prior.

The legs of the refurbished bar stools are original from the Sapphire Room, and they’ve left a bit of the iconic blue on the exterior of the building.

“At times it felt painful, we didn’t want to cover up the old bar, but at the same time this is new,” she said. “It’s been interesting and exciting to see the transformation from one place to the other, but also nerve-wracking in that I hope I do the space justice. It is hard to cover up what once was for so long and what people loved for so long.”

To keep up to date with Jethro’s follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

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