Assyrians offer full-service banquet hall in Denair to everyone

By Marijke Rowland
mrowland@modbee.com

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

The 30,000 square feet of the new Larsa Banquet Hall are filled with opportunity.

The new $5 million, state-of-the-art, full-service- catering event center just outside of Turlock in Denair is poised to become a major destinations for banquets, meetings, weddings, concerts and the like.

Opened in November, the hall hopes to rival the Modesto Centre Plaza in its size, scope and capabilities. So far, the center has hosted about 20 events and is booked almost every weekend until December.

CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

And it has done it all through word-of-mouth and community outreach. "When people see it, they go berserk. They're very excited," said Larsa general manager Sargon Yonan. "They don't believe that there is such a thing in Turlock, it looks like a big hotel."

The hall is the brainchild of Yonan and the St. Addai Assyrian Church of the East parish in Turlock, which built and owns the facility. From idea to open, the project took eight years and was financed through fund raising in the Assyrian community.

But Yonan and Larsa director of operations Amanoel Bedjan both said the hall is for the entire community. "We hope it's a building the community can be proud of. Everyone can utilize a space like this," Bedjan said.

Last month the hall hosted the Turlock Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, Rotary Club and Turlock High prom. It also has had weddings, quinceañeras, anniversaries and other special events.

The combined banquet space and lobby cover 20,000 square feet, which can accommodate 1,100 people. The facility has a full kitchen with executive chef and bar. It has enough tables, chairs, dishware, cutlery and service staff to seat and serve 1,000.

The hall has built-in multimedia capabilities with three projectors, drop-down screen, PC jacks and a built-in sound system.

In fact, the only thing the Larsa Banquet Hall staff won't do is decorate.

In size, Larsa is still smaller than the Modesto Centre Plaza, which can fit 2,500.

But it is larger than the neighboring Assyrian American Civic Club in Turlock (capacity 850), Modesto Banquet Hall (capacity 750), The Seasons in Modesto (ballroom capacity 575) and Whitmore Mansion in Ceres (outdoor capacity 500).

The back of the building has eight classrooms that the church hopes to develop into a charter school. Outside the parking lot has space for 600 and a three-acre multipurpose field behind the center can be rented out as well.

Still the Larsa Banquet Hall, named after an ancient city in Sumer or modern-day Iraq, is more than just a gathering place for parties and business.

The hall also houses the sanctuary for the St. Addai Assyrian Church of the East. The church formerly was headquartered on Canal Drive, but the 600-family congregation outgrew its 250-person building.

Part of the idea behind the Larsa Banquet Hall was to raise funds to build a free-standing church on the same site. Currently a portion of the banquet hall is cordoned off each Sunday morning for services.

Fund raising for the hall came through weekly shows on the locally run Assyrian TV station KBSV as well as the Assyrian American Civic Club.

But Yonan said while the Assyrian community built the hall, they are eager to share it with the entire Central Valley.

"We are open for every person in the community," he said. "It doesn't matter nationality, religion, anything. Anyone can come over."

The Larsa Banquet Hall, 2107 E. Monte Vista Ave., Denair, can be reached at 634-7096.

Bee staff writer Marijke Rowland can be reached at mrowland@modbee.com or 578-2284.