The Fortress Tavern in Chatham is closing and going up for sale.
Owner Robin Lucio told CK News Today the bar, dubbed "the best sounding room in all of Chatham-Kent", is closing because her husband Wayne has stage four cancer and she wants to spend more time with him.
Lucio said it's ironic that they survived the pandemic and had to go out this way, but reality is reality.
"My husband's health issues aren't going to go away. So, I would rather be there than working," said Lucio. "I think we're one of the first bars in Chatham to close when we're not broke."
Lucio said they're going out with a bang on St. Patrick's Day weekend and then they're done. Lucio said The Chasers will play on Friday, March 17, 2023 and Big Shiny Toons will perform the day after.
Lucio admitted she will miss the customers, staff, and the musicians.
"Some of the customers, the actual live music yeah. We've brought in some pretty big bands. We had Simply Queen there, we had Van Halen Invasion, Bon Jovi Forever," Lucio said.
The Fortress Tavern on Grand Avenue East opened in the summer of 2018. At the time, Owner Wayne Caron said he's a really big fan of live music and wanted to share his passion with the community because there was lack of consistent live music in Chatham-Kent.