I too read your article about the Katie Belle renovation and the demise of The Cattle Baron Club.
While I agree that the facility needed a freshening up, I think what is planned removes part of the uniqueness of The Villages. The artist's rendering makes Katie Bell's look just like any of the other night spots in The Villages. Gone is the wonderful large dance floor and old-time saloon atmosphere with the soaring ceiling. Now it will be just a restaurant with entertainment which is hardly unique.
The attraction to Katie Bell's was not the food....it was the venue and the entertainment. The Cattle Baron Club was a wonderful place to dine, but mixing the two into one is a step in the wrong direction. If anything, the facility should keep the same format, but expand the bar area which was way too small.
I was looking forward to attending an event at the new beautiful Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center before or after having dinner at the Cattle Baron Club. How could they get one venue so right (The Performing Arts Center) and one so wrong (the new Katie Belle's)?
It seems this is all being done not in the interest of freshening up Katie Belle's, but in the interest of providing more revenue for the developer by adding shops to the downstairs area.
I was hoping this article was just an April fools joke.
