Anchor Ballroom event venue opens in Lexington
The large ballroom can accommodate up to 400 guests for all types of events. {Adrianna Tuttle/Moonlight Studios}
A long-vacant skating rink in Lexington has been transformed into a large, elegant event venue by a local family.
What was the Anchor Skating Rink at 331 Young Drive for decades is now the Anchor Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 400 guests and has a catering kitchen and a separate bar as well as a movable stage and dance floor.
There’s a covered driveway on the side entrance for limousines, a landscaped parking lot with a handicapped-accessible ramp entrance, a lobby with sofas and a television, a phone recharging bar off the lobby complete with Wi-Fi, as well as handicapped-accessible bathrooms and a private bridal lounge.
Rogelio “Roger” Juarez and Teresita Llanes Pinto are the owners of the business and their daughter, Maria Garno Llanes, is the manager. They also own Llanes Framing in Lexington (working with building contractors) and Llanes Flower Shop in High Point.
Rogelio “Roger” Juarez and Teresita Llanes Pinto are the owners of the Anchor Ballroom, a new event venue in Lexington. They are standing on a faux staircase in the ballroom where brides or guests of honor can make a grand entrance into the event. They are both wearing anchor pendants in homage to the building’s history. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
Another daughter, Melissa Monzerat Juarez-Llanes, is just beginning college at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte but will be working in the family business as her school schedule allows.
Juarez said it wasn’t feasible to renovate the 15,000-square-foot building as a skating rink but noted there are few event venues in the area that can accommodate sizable parties.
“Everything here is new,” he said, except the wood flooring in the ballroom that has been refinished. “It was just a shell of a building. We opened up the drop ceiling to create a more elegant atmosphere.”
A focal point in the ballroom is a lighted faux staircase that is reached by going up a hidden staircase to the side for those hosting parties. “My sister wanted to offer brides or guests of honor a way to make a grand entrance into the ballroom,” Llanes shared.
In addition to weddings, the venue can host quinceañeras, which are similar to “Sweet 16” parties in the Latino community but for girls turning 15. As well, the venue can accommodate corporate meetings and nonprofit fundraising events along with birthday and anniversary parties.
“There’s really a shortage of large event spaces of this size in the area,” Llanes said, noting the Latino community as well as other immigrant communities who want to host traditional events often have to look to Greensboro or Charlotte for such gatherings.
“We hope to see everyone here, but it’s a plus the Latino community gets to benefit.” Llanes pointed out the proximity to Interstate 85 makes it easier to attract people from all over the Triad area.
Pinto said she will be offering floral packages to party planners from her shop in High Point. Llanes said she is working on a list of preferred caterers and bartenders for the venue.
In addition to buying the Younts building and the adjoining parcel for the parking lot, the family purchased an adjacent duplex building facing Raleigh Road that will be renovated, possibly as a private lounge or rental space for party hosts.
The exterior of the stucco ballroom building includes stone arches inspired by those on the boardwalk of the family’s hometown of Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
“That’s just a little history of ours,” Llanes said, explaining they kept the Anchor name “as an homage to the history here.”
Anchor Ballroom has already been host to a quinceañera, birthday party and baptism party and bookings are available into 2024.
Llanes can be contacted at (336) 660-7758 or online at events@anchorballroom. The venue has a Facebook page and will soon have a website.
