Elks Club Catskill — Local services in Town of Catskill

Wedding reception update:

My husband & I got married at the courthouse. My mother, stepfather, sister & his sister attended. It was special for me to have my friends & family celebrate our wedding. My family expressed to me that they were upset that they couldn’t attend the wedding. So we decided to throw a reception a few months later & get everyone together to celebrate. My husband expressed that he wanted to do it at the Elks Lodge in Catskill. The venue was beautiful and had a large enough capacity to hold our guests comfortably. We rented the venue from 4p-9p & were given permission to clean up from 9p-10p. We were also given permission to set up the day before & prior to the party. We met with the lady there named, Maureen (spelling) who verified we were able to do this. This was planned almost 6 months in adcance. Fast forward to the night before ; my family came from Buffalo to assist the night before in setting up. We get to the venue & some old man kept frequently questioning why we needed to use the kitchen. We did not have to explain anything to him because we later found out he wasn’t even a member. We were raised right so any question he asked ; we did answer to be hospitable and grateful for them allowing us to have our party there. We were given permission to set up until 9p. Around 8p, Maureen told us that she was getting ready to head out. Okay, no big deal. Fast forward to the next day. We ended up getting there around 2p to set up for our 4p party. My family once again came early to set up the party. The party started, and everything goes swimmingly. We had 40-60 ppl RSVP. Only about 20 came. We had a lot of extra food. We invited all the guests at the bar to come take some food. Around 8p that same man from yesterday comes in to the room we were having the party (after taking food we offered for free) ; turns on the lights of our party & stated very rudely that we had to get out by 9p. Clean up and all. Mind you, we rented the venue until 9p & we were not even doing all that “ratchet party” stereotype that loves to get thrown around. We were playing Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston classics lol. Once I realized this was becoming a problem, I just focused on cleaning up. But I did overhear and witness the people in the bar as well as the bartender yelling at my guests. Cussing at my guests. & making my husband cry. While my husband was cleaning up, crying, the old man & bartender were still chastising him. They single-handedly ruined my wedding reception that I spent thousands of dollars on. I am OK with not getting a refund. I am not okay with racial remarks, slurs, or selling my underage sister alcohol. I will definitely take my business and money elsewhere. The icing on the cake was the bar members and Maureen saying “I did not expect so many black people to be there”. I grew up in Buffalo. I did not deal with racism & harassment as a child, or teenager. I will not be dealing with it as an adult. Shame on them & I hope they do better. I had guests come from all over the state & out of state, that had to leave an hour early due to unprofessional, micro aggressive, racists. The behavior they presented was guttersnipe, deplorable, and sub-human. I will never forget the whack attack that is the Catskill Elks Lodge. They were concerned about US being ratchet and ramparoon ; when they made it ratchet. I love irony. The Catskill Elks Lodge being a “top tier” place in Catskill is a...

I rented the Elks Lodge six months in advance for my wedding reception. My husband and I did a courthouse wedding and wanted to have a reception for our friends and family with out breaking the bank. I was allowed to set up & prep food on the 19th. I was met with slight resistance. “Oh you need the oven? You need both ovens “You need the stove?” Yes, I paid $150 to rent the kitchen- obviously I need to use it. The contract does state the use of oven(s) is permitted. There was a gentleman who did not introduce himself, however for this review we will refer to him as Mr. Clean, that repeatedly came in to check on what was happening. By the way he presented himself I assumed he was some type of manager of the space. I feel that Mr. Clean’s insistent need to check in was prejudiced. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend who are caucasian felt the same vibe. On the day of the party, I was able to come in two hours early and set up- which was amazing.! The room was set & the food was getting grilled. Everything was running smoothly aside from continuously getting checked on by Mr. Clean again as well as by other lodge members. It felt overbearing to the point of micro management when it was not stated in the contract that I would need supervision when using the kitchen. It felt overbearing to the point of micro management when it was not stated in the contract that I would need supervision when using the kitchen. To my knowledge the contract and agreements verbally communicated to me by the bar manager stated that I rented the event hall from 4 PM until 9 PM, with a one hour cleanup from 9 PM until 10 PM. Around 7:30 PM I went into a full bar of presumed Elk Lodge members. I offered everyone to come in & grab a plate to go since we didn’t receive as many guests as expected, this is the only point I agreed for outside patrons to join my event. For context the bar and the event hall are separate spaces connected by a small window. Shortly before 8:10 pm, Mr. clean aggressively barges into the room, flips on the harsh overhead fluorescent lights, sternly walks up , stopping uncomfortably close to me, and asserts its “time to clean up“. In addition to that a bar staff member was heard by one of my guests saying “I didn’t expect to see this many Black people here”. They rented to two mixed black men. What did they expect to see??? There were less than 20 guests; seven of which were people of color. ted by staff. I’m completely disgusted by the behavior of Mr. clean and the other members of the lodge. Although a refund probably isn’t going to happen it would be the respectable thing to do. The Elks Lodge has a history of being racist and misogynistic. I thought in 2025 things would have changed, but it hurts to see this type of behavior in my own neighborhood and community. I will not tolerate that from anyone. I will never rent from the Elks...

Alana’s Review

My brother rented this establishment for his reception. We were under the impression that this would be a great place to rent, it turned out it wasn’t. My brother had an agreement to rent from 4 PM until 9 PM. Then a 9 PM until 10 PM cleanup. For some reason that rental agreement wasn’t honored. Some old man came in at around 8, turned on the lights which disturbed everyone then walked up to my brothers face aggressively and told him “time to clean up“. After my brother had just went into the bar and offered everybody free food. Even after his kind gesture, they still treated him poorly. In my opinion, he did nothing wrong. We played a beautiful mix of music. Most of the party was seated and our dancing time was supposed to be from eight until nine. The disrespectful behavior of the Elks Lodge members. Must’ve hit my brother really hard because he began crying profusely. I haven’t seen him cry like that since our mother passed away. This was our first time renting a venue. I can tell you I WILL NOT BE BACK HERE. I would definitely not recommend this poor excuse of an establishment. Last comment, I must be one of the many Black people they didn’t expect to see after renting the lodge to two mixed black men for their wedding reception. Since that was a comment made by one of the members in the bar. It’s 2025, not 1925. Get over...