Farina's Christmas Party

BJWC, Friends of Parks and Rec and all my friends.... Please feel free to come to the Farina's X-mas party on Dec 23rd at 7pm.... it's for family, co-workers and friends and all of you fall into one of those 3 categories!!!! Hope to see you there but if not then Merry Christmas!!!!!!

New Year's Eve Party at Farina's

Its time to start thinking about New Year's Eve plans! We are very happy to announce that we will be celebrating the new year with "The Groo Gurx Kings" - a fantastic Dave Matthews Tribute Band. Along with great music, we will be offering: free hors d'oeuvres, a champagne toast, drink specials all night, and much much more! Please call 248-915-5151 to inquire about tickets (which are onlyl $40!)! You can also call us here at Farina's at 248-546-7800 for more information. We hope you decide to ring in the New Year with us!

Dec 5th Holiday Festivities!!!!

December 5th - Hometown Holidays
Mark your calendar so you don't miss this fun-filled day in downtown Berkley!

Noon to 3:00 pm: Horse-drawn Carriage RidesBegins at Berkley Community Church (Wiltshire & Kipling) and will proceed from the church parking lot, north on Robina, east on Beverly and south on Kipling to the lot.
2:00-5:00 pm: Petting Zoo-Free petting zoo on 12 Mile & Gardner.
2:00 to 5:00 pm: Vintage Trolley RidesFree trolley rides sponsored by the Berkley Chamber of Commerce. Multiple stops along 12 Mile and Coolidge. Shopping specials and treats throughout the day provided by our downtown businesses.
5:30 pm: Holiday Lights Parade!The annual Berkley Holiday Lights parade will begin at 5:30 pm on Saturday December 5th. The parade features local bands, floats and Santa Claus. The parade begins at Bacon Street and concludes at City Hall.
Tree Lighting CeremonyImmediately following the parade, with the arrival of Santa’s sleigh on the front lawn of City Hall. The Tree Lighting is sponsored by Berkley Junior Women’s Club who will be providing hot chocolate, treats and carols.
Visit With SantaKids - bring your wish list and visit with Santa after the Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Evening Horse-drawn Carriage Rides Following the parade, begins Rosemont & Coolidge. (weather permitting)
Afterglow Party at Farina’s Banquet Center Immediately following the tree lighting ceremony. Wholesome holiday food and cash bar as well as a special appearance by Santa at 8:30pm.The cost is $15 for adults and $9 for kids 12 and under. Tickets are by advance reservation only and seating is limited. Call Farina’s to reserve your spot 248.546.7800. See you there!

Farina's Holiday Blowout Sale

Heads Up!!!!!!
Saturday November 21st and Sunday November 22nd Farina's is hosting a huge vendor and rummage and craft sale.
The 2 day event will run from 9am to 7pm both days and we are featuring a bunch of really cool vendor tables. We have all kinds of crafts and rummage sale items as well as popular brands like Avon, Partylite, Mary Kay and Discovery Toys. We will have food and beverages for sale at McKenna's Korner Kafe and we will have yummy baked goods at the Lyndsey Plumm Table.
Come on by for this FREE!!! and fun event.
We hope to see you all there.

Selling, selling, selling,
Brooke

So much going on.

There is a bunch of exciting stuff happening at Farina's in the next month, Nov 21st and 22nd we are having a huge indoor flea market, the event starts at 9am and runs till 7pm on Saturday and Sunday. Come on up and shop or feel free to contact us if you would prefer to sell. Vendor tables are just 10$ for the whole weekend and we will store all of your stuff overnight!!!!
Then we've got the Hometown Holiday Afterglow Party being held here on Dec 5th, this event is open to anyone who would like to attend and the best part is Santa will be here to celebrate!!!!
This is event is pre-sale tickets only and we do have limited seating so make sure to stop on up to Farina's and get your tickets before this event sells out!!!
Wow!!!! so much going on at Farina's it must be the holiday season, oh yeah and watch out for our Christmas decorations (Karen and John love to go overboard!!!!) they will be making their appearance shortly.
Happy Holidays everyone and we hope to see you at both of these fun events!!!

Brooke

Berkley Boneyard

Most Berkley residents are familiar with a place lovingly referred to as the Berkley Boneyard.... I know what your thinking what is that? Well allow me to be the one to tell you. Every year during the fall a house in Berkley slowly comes alive, for days you can see ghosts and ghouls coming from within the house to their new home for the month of October. The front yard is adorned with vampires and zombies, fake blood gushes from severed heads and men with chainsaws are everywhere, it must be time once again for the Berkley Boneyard. For years I have driven by this house and see the incredible display that goes up for Halloween but for the first time this year I decided to head over and check it out at night. I was shocked and amazed, what looks like a wax museum during the day comes alive with activity at night, everything moved and talked, jumped and howled. Their were men dressed as scary movie villains prowling the crowd and ghosts floating from above my head, impressed does not begin to describe it. I wanted some more info so I grabbed a few quick facts to share...

-The Boneyard requires over 1500 man hours per yer to run

-Over 2000 watts of lighting are used along with several low voltage systems

- Electricity is borrowed from 2 of their neighbors

-In 2003 the display was taped for a British Documentary on how Americans celebrate Halloween.

The Boneyard has become a Halloween must see for me and I encourage anyone who hasn't to stop by and check it out, I applaud the efforts by the family who is gracious enough to put this together every year for our viewing delight and I can't wait till they do it all again next year.

ta ta for now!

Brooke

Themed weddings

One of my favorite kinds of weddings is a themed wedding, for those of you not in the know a themed wedding is usually in conjunction with a major holiday and incorporates that holidays theme. This year I got a once in a career opportunity to do a Halloween themed wedding, this is especially exciting for me because I get to use my creative side and think outside "the box". I first met Karen and Fletcher in October of 2008 they came to Farina's looking for a hall to celebrate their October 31st, 2009 wedding reception, suddenly it dawned on me they were looking for a hall for Halloween... HALLOWEEN!!! I could barely contain my excitement could it be possible that they were going to do a non-traditional wedding reception, the day fit and their personalities were perfect for this kind of event. I honestly don't know who was more excited about the wedding me or Karen. After a fun year of planning the event is finally here, Farina's will get the opportunity to host an event with guests and ghouls alike!! If you are driving down Coolidge on Halloween evening take an extra minute to drive by Farina's and check out all the fun themed Halloween and harvest decorations that we have all worked so hard on and if you hear any blood curdling scream don't worry it's just, Karen, Fletcher and their 100 guests celebrating their special day.

Happy Anniversary JJ Fatts

JJ Fatts is a family owned, family operated restaurant, located in the heart of Berkley, MI. JJ Fatts opened its doors on October 13th, 2008. After almost two years of construction, owners Jim and Jeff Sulaka came into the business on a whim, taking a chance and making a dream come true. After growing up in Huntington Woods, and attending Berkley Schools, they knew this was the community they wanted to be apart of. The property became available, and the rest is history. JJ Fatts is approaching its one year anniversary, and is still rockin n rollin!

Above is a bio sent to me by co-owner Jeff Sulaka, Jeff and I attended Berkley High together so imagine my surprise when I walked into the new restaurant across the street to grab some lunch and ran into him! Things like that are my favorite part about Berkley, knowing that business owners in this city were born and raised here and have a vested interest in the community. Jim and Jeff have participated more than once in city fundraisers and charity projects, I know I personally knocked on their door for sponsorship help with this year's Berkley Beer Tent at Berkley Days and they generously donated to that event.

Happy one year anniversary and thanks to the owners and the staff of JJ Fatts for their great food and atmosphere your restaurant has been an amazing addition to our community,

Gotta run, suddenly I have a craving for a burger......

Brooke

An

A night you will never forget!

I have created a video of some of our gorgeous brides and their husbands on their wedding night.
Thanks to all of them for allowing us to participate in their special day, we hope that we were able to make their wedding An Affair to Remember.

lots of love and best wishes!
Brooke

Fire Prevention Open House

It seems that the ladies of the B.J.W.C are at it again, they are helping the Berkley Public Safety hold Berkley's annual Fire Prevention Open House. The open house is held in the parking lot of the Public Safety building, located on 12 Mile just east of Coolidge. The open house is a fun way to educate children and families on the importance of fire safety in the home. The kids get to be junior fire fighters and their is a demonstration where they actually set a room on fire, if you have never been that alone is a reason to go. Their will be popcorn, cotton candy and baked goods as well as the annual Chili Cook-off. Last year Farina's entered into the cook-off and took a devastating loss to those ladies over at TLC. We vowed to be back this year for a rematch but we have so much stuff going on here that day that cooking chili isn't gonna be an option, nonetheless even though we can't be there everyone else should go and taste all the different kinds of chili and tease the ladies of TLC on our behalf (LOL!!). So if your looking for something fun to do on Saturday then head on over to Public Safety and enjoy the open house and while you are there tell my favorite ladies in red that I said hi!!!!

till next time,
Brooke

Movie Night!!!!!!!

Farina's 1st annual Movie night is being held on October 2nd in the Farina's north side parking lot starting at 7pm, this is a "Friends and Family Event" so come on out and hang with us. We are doing hot dogs and popcorn but you will need to bring your own lawn chairs and beverages.

The double feature is Hocus Pocus and The Princess Bride.

We are starting Hocus Pocus at 7 pm and the Princess Bride will run directly after.

We hope to see you all there, don't forget to bring your cooler.

Brooke

Fall Fun Fest

If your looking for something fun to do this weekend look no further. Our Lady of Lasalette school is having their annual Lasalette Days carnival this weekend, it's a fun time the whole family can enjoy. Karen and myself wandered over last night and had the opportunity to check out their rummage sale as well as their beer tent... what a great time!!! We had corn dogs, drank some beer and walked home with armfuls of stuff we bought at the rummage sale. They have carnival rides and a bake sale, last night they held a Vegas night in their gym. The carnival runs till Sunday evening and is directly behind the school in the parking lot. For any of my readers not familiar with the area it's between 11 mile and Catalpa on Coolidge.

If you get a chance swing by, your sure to have a ton of fun.

Hope to see ya there

Brooke

Tiger's Night 2009

Friends and family all turned out for another great Farina's outing, our 2009 Tiger's Night Out was a huge success and a great time was had by all. We ate hot dogs, drank frosty beverages and rooted on our beloved Tigers who played against the Toronto Blue Jays and although they didn't win it wasn't for our lack of enthusiastic cheering. Lots of love goes all to all the "Farina's friends and family" who came out for this event, for more pictures of our night out check out our facebook page!. Hope to see all of you again next month for

"Movie Night".

A.P.B. - Wanted Koerber Family - (be on the lookout)

John Koerber- "Head of the family"
Little is known about this shadowy figure, but his reach is far and his roots are deep. Strong and silent he's known as "The Quiet Enforcer

Karen Koerber- known to close associates and friends as "The Don"

She is the public figure of The Family, with nerves of steel and strong willed determination she'll make you "an offer you can't refuse".

Brooke Holman- "The Conciliatory" otherwise known as the go to girl, she's the deal maker of The Family's Affairs. This women has a hand in everything and keeps a watchful eye on the business, her name is on all The Contracts.

Ashley Deakins- "The Muscle of Chicago"

She's only called in on the Big Jobs, she's the family's "Silent Partner".

Mckenna Holman- A.K.A "Mack the Knife"

Wields the tools of her trade with deadly accuracy. Precision, timing and loyalty are the name of her game. Don't tangle with this one or she'll give you a Taste of what she's made of.

This family is in the restaurant "Biz" and is known to throw one heck of a good time.

Be on the look out if your holding an event , if your not careful they will Book you a Contract

and welcome you into "The Family", once your in there's no getting out.

Landslide!!!!!!

A huge round of applause goes out to Kim W. the winner of our blog contest, with over 50% of the followers Kim has won by a landslide.... watch out next month for our upcoming employee bios, Kim W. is sure to be one of the first.

Good job Kim, thanks for all the support!!!!

Brooke

Thanks!!!!!!

On behalf of the staff and everybody at Farina's I want to say thank you to all the people that joined our blog. The contest winner will be announced this week so keep checking back to see who won, also you can help the stay to winner future contests by continuing to read and follow this blog. I will post all the new information here and on our Facebook page.
Have fun reading and thanks again.

Brooke

Contest Rules.....

Wanted to take a minute to welcome any new followers to the blog page, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy our stories and updates. I want to clarify the contest rules for anyone participating on behalf of a Farina's employee.. You must become a follower of THIS BLOG, you can do so by scrolling down the page and clicking on the FOLLOW button located above the pictures of people who are already followers of this blog. While I appreciate all the people that have become fans on Facebook, the contest is only for the actual blog and the employees do not get any credit if you only sign up to be a Facebook fan. I specifically wanted followers to the blog because not all of my employees have a Facebook account so it wouldn't be fair to them to make the contest only about our Facebook page. Anybody needing instructions or additional information can call me at the hall 248-546-7800 or send me an e-mail brooke_farinas@yahoo.com
Thanks for participating and good luck to our employees, may the best man or women win!!!!!!!

Brooke

Sometimes all you need is a little TLC

Who doesn't need a little TLC in there life every now and again, The Lunch Cafe that is. Cindy and Mark Coon along with daughter Angela are the proud owners and operators of Berkley's The Lunch Cafe located on 12 Mile. TLC has been open for just over 2 years now and the Coon's are doing a great job of making their place THE PLACE to have lunch or dinner. Cindy serves everything from homemade soup and sandwich combos to salads and panini's, not only is the food fresh and fast but it's served with a smile. TLC was voted "Fastest and Friendliest service" by Local 4 News, and were featured in Autoweek Magazine under "Pubs and Grubs" alongside the Dreamcruise article. Karen and I also love TLC because their family owned and operated just like Farina's so they can understand and appreciate the trials and tribulations of working with family. Check them out at http://www.dmrguide.com/ or stop in to the cafe to grab some lunch and sign up for their weekly newsletter.

Hats of to Cindy, Mark and Angela for always keeping or tummies full

Off to lunch I go....

Brooke

Reunions!!!!

This must be the season for reunions because it seems to me that we have had an abundance of reunions in the last couple of weeks, we did a 20 year for Oak Park High, a 20 year for Berkley High and a 35 year reunion for Kimball High. It's always a lot of fun to watch people that haven't seen each other in quite some time interact, reunions of any sort are a lot of fun but these were especially cool. For me seeing the Berkley one was really neat because I too am a Berkley alumni and I loved seeing the pictures of the school from way back when... It was funny to listen to them tell stories about teachers that I had when I was at Berkley as well. We are so glad that they chose Farina's to be the place to hold such a memorable event, we hope everyone who came had a good time, ate some good food and got home safe.
GO BEARS!!!!

Brooke

Rhapsody Rocked

Thanks to all of the ladies of the BJWC, you women really know how to have a good time.

The Aaron Vaughn Band was awesome and the weather cooperated to make it a spectacular evening. Barb Doppel did a great job as usual with her tattoo stand, Thanks to the ladies of TLC for the food and for your bathrooms. Lynn and Charlene have worked so hard on this event and it really shows, you ladies are great keep up the good work.

Thanks to Miss Lyndsey and Dr. Koerber for helping Karen and myself run the Lemonade stand. For extra pics and videos on this event check us out on Facebook.

Hope to see you there next month

Brooke

Come One Come All, Rain or Shine

It's that time again so dust off your lawn chairs and pull out your adult lemonade (hehe) it's time to enjoy another Robina Rhapsody sponsored by the fabulous women of the Berkley Junior Women's Club. Tonight at Robina Rhapsody we will be hosting the well known and loved Aaron Vaughn Band!!!!! We had a blast last month at the Rhapsody and encourage everyone to come out and check out the event this month. I have included a few pictures for your viewing pleasure, hope to see ya there...

Brooke

Freedom from trash

At long last my prayers have been answered, an archangel has come down from above and given us the trashcan we have so badly needed. For years we have fought a losing battle with the trash that magically finds it's way onto our establishment, it falls in our fountains, gets caught in our flowers and blows around the outside of our building. Berkley is and has always been a walking community and unfortunately with a lot of foot traffic inevitably garbage will soon follow. I left work on Friday evening and their was not a trash can in site, but upon entering the building on Saturday morning I noticed the can sitting along Coolidge right in front of Farina's shining in all it's glory, thank you, thank you, thank you I no longer have to spend long afternoons of picking up trash that has accumulated along the front and for that I will be eternally grateful. Alan K. wherever you are I know it was because of you that this miracle has come to pass, without your tenacity this may never have happened. Farina's will always be grateful for what you did for our lot.

Brooke

Hot dogs and Projectors.

If you happened to be walking down 12 mile on August 14th and you happened to be watching the Berkley Cruisefest Parade maybe you happened to have noticed the huge block party being held on the corner of 12 mile and Bacon, The Church of the King which is located right on that corner holds a block party every year for cruisefest and hands out free hotdogs, chips and beverages. This year Farina's was proud to be able to donate hotdogs and buns to that particular event. I would love to say that is was a purely unselfish donation but that of course would not be true instead we struck a deal with Church of the King and traded hotdogs for the use of their projector. Church of the King had a vision of a block party that people could come to and receive their snacks and beverages at no cost and Farina's has a vision to host a movie night where people can come and enjoy a new flick at no cost. By working together and using that time old tradition we all call trade, we have managed to make perfect harmony. They got their block party and we will have our movie night. Thanks to you Church of the King and we hope you enjoyed your hotdogs!!!!!!

Website up and running

At long last we have finally completed our website and wanted to make sure that everyone got a chance to check it out. http://www.farinasbanquet.com/ please give it a look and let us know what you think. The website has a direct e-mail to me or you can give feedback on Facebook on the Farina's page.
Thanks for all the support
Brooke

Farina's Tiger Night

Come one come all, the 2nd annual Farinas's Banquet Center Tiger night is upon us. Friday September 11th at 7:00 pm the tigers are playing Toronto and we are hosting an outing. The event is 17$ per ticket and includes the ticket to the game and the bus ride down town. The event will be B.Y.O.B and we will be meeting in the Farina's Parking lot between 4:30 and 5:00 to tailgate. Please gimme a call if you are interested and I will reserve the tickets, we have 40 and they usually go pretty fast. Money is due before you board the bus.
Hope to see you there
Brooke

2009 Coed Playoff Champs

Morning,
Wanted to give another quick thank you to our Softball team not only are we 2009 Coed Softball Champs but we also won the playoffs this last Sunday. What a day, we played 4 games in one afternoon, started at 4:10 and didn't get home till 11:30. Thanks so much to all the people who came out and cheered for us on Sunday, a special thanks to Jeff's family for always showing up and cheering and also for the super cool signs that they made. Once again softball season is over and it makes me sad to think it will be almost a whole year before we all hit the field again, I always miss our team over the winter. Then again we could pick up Fall ball..... who knows!!

Brooke

Robina Rhapsody

It's time for the 2nd Robina Rhapsody, tonight on 12 mile and Robina, Robin Moore and the Northstars go on at 6:30. Food, fun and Farina's is doing an old school Lemonade stand.
Hope to see you all there.
Brooke

2009 Coed Softball Champs

Hey all,
Not that I want to brag but Farina's is for the 4th consecutive year the Coed Softball Champs of the City of Berkley, I just wanted to take a minute and give recognition to our team that worked so hard. Thank you to Chris and Shannon our 3rd base 2nd base duo, Shari and Doug our power couple in the outfield, Kaity and Ange that filled in and pulled us through some tough spots. To Eliott and his superhuman speed, Shelly for here shortstop skills, Justin for his extra long reach, Lauren for her enthusiasm and Jeff who's always willing to play even with a hangover. Thanks to Kim for always coming out and cheering from the pine pony, to Justin's family for making up a portion of our cheering section, to Lauren and Leslie they will cheer as long as there is beer. Shawn thanks for keeping me calm when I get hyper.
An extra special thanks to John for putting off retirement for another year, we wouldn't be the same team without you.
On behalf of Karen and myself we are so proud of all your hard work and we can't wait till next year, when she will scream at us again without mercy. ( lol )

Brooke

Robina Rhapsody

Hello all,
Wanted to take a moment and let everyone know about an amazing group of women who work on behalf of the community of Berkley called the Berkley Junior Women's Club. This is a group of gals who do non-profit work to better the Berkley community, they host events such as the Fire Prevention Open House and Breakfast with the Bunny as well as help out at various different functions throughout the city. Karen and myself became members just over two years ago and are proud to call these women friends. The BJWC also hosts the Robina Rhapsody which is held every third Thursday throughout the summer and Farina's is a proud sponsor of this event.
The Rhapsody is a summer concert series featuring live music and lots of fun activities for the kids. This summer's concert dates are July 16th, August 20th and September 10th. July features Robin Moore and the Northstars, August brings to us the Aaron Vaughn Band and in September we are calling all kids to come out and enjoy the Candy Band.
Music starts at 6:30 and the event is located at 12 mile and Robina in the heart of downtown Berkley, on behalf of the BJWC and Farina's Banquet Center we hope to see ya there!!!

Thanks for reading
Brooke

Farina's finally online....

Welcome to the first Farina's Banquet Center Blog, this page was created in conjunction with our new website ( www.farinasbanquet.com) as a way to let people know about the different community activities that we at Farina's support or get involved in. Farina's is located in the heart of Berkley, MI which is a 2.5 square mile city full of community pride and hometown spirit, it's a city we not only work in but live in as well. We at Farina's feel supporting and getting involved with your community is the most important thing that we can do. Our city and it's residents have done so much for us over the years we always welcome the opportunity to give back. Stay tuned for all the wonderful and exciting upcoming city events that you to can be apart of.
Thanks for reading
Brooke Holman
General Manager
Farina's Banquet Center