The Mathews County Visitor and Information Center will hold a grand reopening of Sibley’s General Store from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at 239 Main Street, Mathews. The public is invited.
Closed for the past seven months for restoration and maintenance, the center will have a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Live music for the event will be provided by “Piankatank,” and there will be refreshments and a lemonade stand.
Returning vendors and some new vendors will have their wares for sale, and a raffle will be held for a gift basket full of items from the visitor’s center and its vendors. It is valued at $200. Tickets are $2 each or three for $5.
“I’m excited,” said MCVIC Executive Director Kat Larkin, who was hired while the center was closed. “I’ve never worked in this building.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” said MCVIC President Bobbi Hatton.
The renovation included raising the ca. 1898 building, placing concrete under it, and building a new foundation; replacing a major support beam and reinforcing columns; adding a hyphen to provide indoor access to the second floor; and installing new HVAC and drainage.
The interior is brighter now because windows that had been painted over or hidden by the now-demolished exterior staircase were uncovered, new lighting fixtures were installed, and the walls were spruced up with a new coat of paint.
“We wanted to keep the feel of Sibley’s, with perhaps a modern twist,” said Hatton.
Morse Enterprises of Mathews was the contractor for the work, with Ace Movers doing the elevation. For the move itself, the Mathews Rotary Club handled the heavy furniture, said Larkin, while MCVIC board members helped with the rest of the items. Volunteers cleaned, painted and organized everything, she said.
The design firm Mellen Street Creative is due to come this week and install displays, said Larkin. They will include such pieces as large photos and a three-sided kiosk providing information about points of interest in the county.
Hatton said the visitor’s center has over 12,000 visitors a year and that she’s “eager to have people back in the building.”
“We have been good stewards of the community’s and county’s money,” said Hatton, highlighting Chesapeake Bank, Mathews Economic Development Authority, and Dominion Virginia as contributors that helped make the project possible.
“We’re new and improved,” she said, “but we’re still good old Sibley’s.”
