For almost a century, the local Elks Lodge chapter was based at Fredericksburg Square at 525 Caroline Street. On Thursday, Elks Lodge executives gathered at the downtown site to reminisce and learn about the building’s exciting next chapter.
Three Elks Lodge members and their wives on Thursday got a tour of the 15,000-square-foot building from Ryan Sharkey and Anthony Sarago, who are preparing to open a Water’s End Brewery and Hot Chickn Kitchn location there this summer.
Elks Lodge members in attendance included Keith Mills, who is currently national president for the Elks organization, as well as Ray Dameron and Ronald Hicks. Mills was in Fredericksburg for a Virginia Elks Association meeting. The trio and their wives were impressed by the expansive space and the detailed moldings. Hicks fondly recalled the good times the Elks had at the facility before moving to their new building near Shannon Airport in 1997.
Fredericksburg Square was the local Elks’ home from 1906 until 1997. Sharkey and Sarago were part of a partnership that recently acquired the building from the Perroy family to write its next chapter. They are planning to open up the space in stages, with the first being the opening of Water’s End Brewery and Hot Chickn Kitchn in the front of the space by early July.
