Event center closing is the ‘end of an era’

Sandy Superak

Bittersweet.

That’s a word Sandy Superak uses to describe her emotions about the upcoming closing of Tiffany’s Event Center in Brookfield, which she has managed since 2004. It’s also a sentiment felt by Paul O’Brien and Diane Riefstahl, who have held events at Tiffany’s.

Superak, who called Tiffany’s “my baby,” said she has loved working with clients and staff, meeting the unique challenges of each event and performing the physical work of moving tables and setting up place settings. 

The sweet part is she no longer will have to meet the demands of the job. 

“I’m getting older and I’m ready for a change in my life,” said Superak. “I’m ready for a life. When you have this kind of a job, you have to give up all personal life. You can’t go places on weekends. You have to be at everybody’s beck and call. That part, no, I’m not gonna miss.”

O’Brien and Riefstahl said they are excited to see what Brookfield Local School District, which is buying the building, will do as they develop it into a career-technical education center and community center.

“It’s a great move for the school,” said O’Brien, noting the building’s proximity to other school property. “Hopefully, it’s another improvement for Brookfield.”

“There’s positives and negatives,” said Riefstahl, chairman of the Brookfield Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, which has held induction ceremonies at Tiffany’s. “I’m really glad for the school district because it is going to be convenient for them and it is going to fill a need. 

“Without a doubt, we’re going to miss it (Tiffany’s) thoroughly.”

The Kolat family opened Tiffany Manor in 1978, and the Winner family bought it in 1992, said Superak, who remembered attending events at Tiffany’s when she was in high school.

Efforts to reach a Winner family spokesman and the Kolats were unsuccessful.

As an 18- or 19-year-old in 1997, Superak started working at The Winner, the clothing store in Sharon, as a salesman and buyer and became a decorator for that and other Winner properties. She tended bar on the side and was in so many weddings that she felt she could plan one, even though she has never married. When the position of managing Tiffany’s came open, “I was like, ‘I think I can do that job. I know everything about weddings already,’” Superak said.

Since then, the life-long Brookfield resident has overseen hundreds of weddings, showers, banquets, fundraisers, concerts and parties, and become friends or friendly with many of her clients and employees, particularly the “kids,” as she called the army of teenagers who have worked there over the years. One of those teens, Toby Gibson, who washed dishes, is now the superintendent of Brookfield schools.

O’Brien has held a lobster clambake, which raises funds for the O’Brien Children Memorial Fund, at Tiffany’s for years, and noted another foundation he is part of, the Strimbu Memorial Fund, will hold a wild game dinner there Feb. 16.

“We’ve had a lot of great events there,” O’Brien said. “The Winners have been great to work with over the years.”

The next clambake will be held at Yankee Lake Ballroom in the fall, he said.

The Tiffany’s staff has always gone “over and beyond” to make the Distinguished Alumni events a success, and Superak has been “super to work with,” Riefstahl said. Plus, the center’s prices have been “reasonable,” she said. The next induction will be held at Squaw Creek Country Club in Vienna in the fall, but the committee has not committed to any place beyond that, she said.

Superak, the only full-time employee at Tiffany’s, said she has gotten lots of calls from “devastated” clients who were aware of the closing, and she has had to inform many others of the closing. 

“A lot of people are really upset,” she said. “I feel bad for the bigger parties. There’s not a lot of places that hold the amount of people (Tiffany’s holds). I think my pricing’s fair and reasonable.”

“I think it’s the end of an era because the community’s grown up with it,” Superak said. “Everybody’s done stuff here. And, it’s everybody’s first job.”

Tiffany’s will close March 31, and then Superak has a month to pack up the equipment, furniture and decorations to be moved. She’s not looking forward to April 1.

“I’m a little nervous for that day where I don’t know what I’m gonna do with myself,” Superak said. “Hopefully, I find lots of jobs to keep me busy, because I’m used to working so much.”

She knows she will keep working for the Winners in any capacity they need her.

“I’ve been getting job offers like crazy,” she said. “Not taking any of them, because I’m devoted to Donna (Winner) 100 percent.”

Superak plans to do something she hasn’t done in years – take vacations. She has trips planned to Colorado, Texas and Florida to visit friends.

Beyond that, she has offered to help former clients plan events, and she’s keeping her options open.

Superak said she thinks Gibson has a lot of good ideas and is watching to see what the building becomes after the school takes over.

“It’s a perfect location for them,” she said. “Would I have liked this to stay a banquet hall? Yes. But, is it good for the school, too? Yes.”