SALISBURY — At a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, the Country Club of Salisbury unveiled its redesigned and renovated clubhouse.

The club welcomed its members to walk through the updated dining rooms, bar, kitchen, lobby and library for the first time since the makeover started about six months ago. The red ribbon was sliced by members of the club’s strategic planning committee, including club president Mark Robertson, Missie Alcorn, Diane Fisher and Victor Wallace.

“For them to walk in and then have a whole new experience in the same space, the excitement on their faces was wonderful,” Fisher said. “They made an investment in the club by contributing to that campaign and we want everybody to feel like they did the right thing by investing.”

The clubhouse renovations are the first piece in a larger Centennial Campaign to upgrade the club’s facilities, with improvements to the pool area and tennis courts on the horizon. The effort is led by the strategic planning committee, who has raised over $2 million thus far.

Instead of incurring a flat fee on all of the club’s members, the committee has accumulated funds through personal solicitations. Robertson said the ongoing campaign has received donations from over 200 of the club’s members.

The renovations to the clubhouse cost $850,000 and included new seating, carpeting, walls, decorations, and perhaps most importantly, a complete overhaul to the kitchen.

“(The kitchen) is night and day,” Robertson said. “It’s twice as big with a lot of modern equipment.”

The expanded kitchen will allow the club to accommodate daily diners as well as larger groups and events. The dining room opened for lunch and dinner for the first time last week. It will be open to members of the club Wednesday through Saturday, with a brunch option on Sunday.

Robertson ate his first meal from the newly-renovated kitchen over the weekend. He was not disappointed.

“I’ve been to every restaurant in town and I couldn’t say this in the past, but the food quality at the restaurant is as good if not better than any other restaurant in town,” Robertson said.

Although the dining room maintains the look and feel of a classy country club, Fisher said the renovations have made it a more flexible space.

“A goal of ours was for it to be a transitional space that could be used for a lot of different events,” Fisher said. “We wanted to try to have something for everyone. If there was someone who wanted to have a real formal, glamorous event, they can ramp it up and make it that. But if they want to have something small and warm and cozy and comfortable, the space lends itself to that as well.”

The club this week will welcome back local civic organizations like the Kiwanis Club and Civitans, who met there regularly before the pandemic and renovations. The clubhouse’s calendar is starting to fill with other events, such as weddings and receptions.

With the clubhouse now complete, the strategic planning committee will turn its attention to other projects on its checklist. The committee’s efforts got an unexpected boost during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that will help it jumpstart the next project.

“At the end of it, one of the members asked what it would take to get the veranda built,” Robertson said. “We said it was about another $200,000 and then they started passing the hat around and we raised $200,000 that night as well. It turned into a very successful evening.”

The steering committee will now be able to move forward with plans to “revamp and refresh” the club’s pool area. Along with resurfacing the pool and transitioning to saltwater instead of chlorine, the club will construct a veranda. The improvements are slated to start in the fall and winter with the goal of having them complete by next summer.

Longer-range plans include upgrades to the tennis facilities and perhaps even the addition of pickle ball capabilities, but completing those improvements hinges on the ability to raise $1 million.

By continuing to improve the club’s facilities, Robertson said the club will be poised for future growth.

“This is the first step of a multi-step process to get us into shape to be the club for the next century,” Robertson said. “We are well on our way, but we still have some things to accomplish.”

More information about the club’s renovations can be found by contacting clubhouse manager Frank O’Hara at frank@ccofsalisbury or 704-637-3200.