The Ruins — Attraction in Hood River

The Ruins venue. We had tickets to the Wild Rumors Fleetwood Mac Experience at The Ruins last night. I do not recommend this venue for people who have health conditions that limit their ability to stand for an entire concert. Seating is very limited. They sell more tickets than seats that are available, so standing during the entire performance is likely. The owner does not allow you to bring your own chairs as it was allowed in the past with 2 concerts I have previously attended. I complained to a gentleman who said he was the owner. I stated my brother, who is an attorney, would probably recommend a lawsuit for not providing enough seats for the elderly and persons with limitations due to health conditions. His response was not accommodating, but told me I have to take a refund with a threat to call the police and trespass me. This was an exchange that lasted under 60 seconds. He was very threatening and intimidating and accused me of public intoxication, which was not appropriate. I left immediately and was joined outside the venue with my husband and a couple that joined us for the concert. The owner repeated the threat to my husband to call to police with a trespass order even though he never entered the venue. He had to return to the car to store the chairs that were not allowed in the venue. He was not with me when I originally voiced my complaint to the owner. The couple who drove us to the venue was refunded as well because they refused to stay after the incident. A third couple in our group that was separated from us in the line also complained about the lack of seating, not offered a refund, left the venue early after the concert started 90 minutes late and experienced back pain from standing. Both of them are over 70 and the husband has both knees and hips replaced. These are examples how the issues of persons with physical challenges and persons over the age of 65 are addressed. I have stage 4 cancer with tumors in my spine, that limits my ability to stand for long periods. I am sharing my personal experience. This is not a venue I will attend in the future...

This was my first experience at The Ruins. Fairly easy to find, they had signs up since the building is at the dead end of a parking lot. I noted that it seemed people were driving slowly around the parking lot, and that there were signs behind every single parking spot, except the 5 or 6 right in front of the bldg. A car pulled out of a spot right in front, so I rolled over there and then I could see why they left. There was a fairly big pile of hard snow taking up half of the parking space. However, I was driving the Mini, so I backed in, with just enough room to still open my door and not hit the car next to me. I went inside and it was quite nice, with wooden floors and a nice decor. This was for a memorial, so after saying hi to friends and the widow, I checked out the food table which looked very well done. And it was, a nice selection of vegetables and some grapes, along with three different kinds of cut sandwiches pinned together with wooden spikes. They also had three different kinds of cookies, chocolate, ranger and molasses that were all about 4 inches in diameter. Cookies are always a hit or a miss at venues like this because well, some folks have never learned how to properly bake them. The cookies are often hard as a hockey puck, too thin, etc. These cookies though were still soft tasted great. So I give a hearty endorsement to the folks who prepared the food. It's my understanding that this venue is mostly used for weddings and such. A great place for these type of gatherings with one caveat, hence the reason for my down grade to four stars. I heard people talking about having to pay for parking outside and how the deceased wouldn't have been happy...

The Ruins is one of my favorite venues in the Gorge. They have such a great opportunity to host events indoors or outdoors. The live music lineup they have during the warmer months is always fantastic, that is where you will catch a ton of locals on a Tuesday evening during the Summer. The weekend line-ups they have are also worth checking out, especially because tickets are super reasonable. The owner is so nice and cares so much about the opportunity to provide a space for community to gather for some libations and dancing. If you haven't checked out their new outdoor bar space make sure to put that on the list this next Spring! Thank you guys for having a great place to bust out the...