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The old school gym at Herman is now known as ANBE Events. The space gets a soft opening this weekend when it is home to the Herman American Legion post’s annual gun show.
This is not your grandfather’s Herman gym.
Built in 1960 and for a decade home to some of the best Class D basketball in the state, the Herman gym has a new name, ANBE Events, and a new face.
But you can still see traces of the old—and that’s by design. Owners Gary and Theresa Riibe and Mark and Marissa Anderson have transformed the old school building into a sleek new events center. They did it, Marissa said, to keep the old barn from becoming, well, a barn.
Nearly two years to the day of taking possession of the old school building, the four Herman-area residents received an occupancy permit and can open their venue to the public. It gets its first use this weekend when Herman’s American Legion post holds it annual gun show at the facility.
It’s been a long two years.
“And we’re all still friends,” Gary joked last week while the group gave a reporter a tour of the place.
To anyone familiar with the old school building, the original footprint is much the same. You can tell where certain things used to be. Even the front doors are the same—refinished, but the same.
“We wanted to keep what we could to preserve some of the history,” Marissa said.
There was a lot they couldn’t save, like all of the old ceiling tile, for example.
“For an empty building, we filled a lot of dumpsters,” she said.
But there was a lot they could keep. For example, the wood from the old bleachers was repurposed to keep it in the facility. Some of that wood became trim for what the old third grade classroom became—what the owners call the ‘girly room.”
The space has been renovated to become the perfect spot for a bride’s room, or a host site for a birthday party or bridal shower.
That’s one of the advantages of the new place. Many of the rooms can be rented individually.
Then there’s the big hall.
The basketball court is intact,with the old red “H” in the jump circle. The backboards and hoops are original, but their moorings have been replaced so they can be moved up and out of the way when necessary.
Curtains along the south wall help deaden the echo and the quiet becomes more noticeable on the stage which has had its floor redone, but the old floor lights are still in place—and in working order—although they now feature LED bulbs.
The owners have gone the extra mile to improve the facility, including the installation of new fire alarm and security systems, air conditioning, even the installation of solar powered lamps for the parking lot.
Although you can still play basketball there, and they hope people do, the old locker rooms have been replaced by updated rest rooms and the ends have been switched, placing the men’s on the east and the women’s to the west.
The old library and office space holds everything that’s left of the old place—like the signs that hung outside, the last four composite photos of the students and staff, even an old wall-mounted coat rack that still has names of the last users attached.
While most of the old classrooms have become meeting rooms and the old kitchen has been slimmed down to a warming kitchen, the biggest change is seen in the old kindergarten room.
The new owners call it an indoor/outdoor room. Completely renovated with bistro tables and a brand new bar, the east end shows the most visible change for the passer-by, a glass panelled garage door that opens onto a paved patio covered by a steel pergola.
The facility has an occupancy rating of 1,200. There are tables and chairs for 500.
While the interior of the building is very different, the owners attempted to keep the feel of the place very much the same.
“There are a lot of memories in here, and more to make,” Marissa said. “The story of this building isn’t us. It’s the people who’ll be here.”
She said none of the four has a personal connection to the building, but they couldn’t bear to just let it go. “What matters is the connection people have with it and the connections they’ll make.”
After two years of blood, sweat and tears, now it’s time for the building to be used again.
Gary said the public supported the original concept of keeping the place open, now it’s time to see how much. He said he’d like to see organizations bring in bands and hold dances, to give people somewhere to go.
“We are at the point where we’ll see if people want it.”
Information on rentals is available by calling Anderson at 402-237-8016, or at the facility’s Web site: anbeevents.com
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The old school gym at Herman is now known as ANBE Events. The space gets a soft opening this weekend when it is home to the Herman American Legion post’s annual gun show.
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