The Sugar Barge Resort & Marina is family owned and operated. We purchased the property in 1995 and have grown the site into a true destination. Our marina offers guest...

docking, 24-hour fuel, a launch ramp, 50 covered births, and 200 covered dry storage spaces with unlimited boat launching. We also rent kayaks, patio boats, fishing boats, and wave runners. Guests can park their travel trailers and RVs in one of the 114 sites in our RV Resort, each of them with complete electrical and water hook-ups, plus a small tent-camping area.

The economic meltdown we have experienced during the past few years has slowed Bethel Island growth making it difficult to keep our Sugar Barge restaurant operating. We decided to make a conversion to an event center last year when we realized that our area of the Delta doesn’t offer many venues that are suitable for such things as wedding receptions and other upscale events. We completely remodeled the Sugar Barge ground floor so that it now features a stylish interior made memorable by an impressive large mahogany bar and especially by tall windows offering breathtaking views of the Delta. Couples who want to conduct the wedding ceremony on site are free to hold the service outdoors in the lovely park setting available on the grounds of our resort.

We converted our top deck into an outdoor bar and grill, which we keep open from Friday through Sunday from mid-May through Labor Day weekend. Of course, the Delta has beautiful weather during fall and spring months, so people who host receptions or other events in the Event Center during those months are free to use the top deck, as well. For example, some will conduct their wedding ceremony on the top deck and then use the Event Center for their reception.

Rather than offering cabin accommodations for overnight guests, this year we purchased seven new travel trailers with queen-size beds and flat-screen TVs to house people from wedding parties who want to stay onsite overnight. In our experience, people at most wedding events rent all of the trailers. Of course, anybody attending an event can park their own motor home or travel trailer in one of the sites in our RV Resort. In addition, any of the guests are free to come to the event in their cruisers or sailboats, and to use the electrical hook-ups in one of the marina slips.

The Event Center has great appeal for people who have grown up on the Delta and have spent their lives on the water. We have been operating Sugar Barge for 15 years, so some of the younger area residents have grown up with Sugar Barge. They remember coming here as children with their parents, so now when they are looking for a wedding venue, Sugar Barge is a natural choice — a special place at which to hold a special event. We imagined that Delta residents would be attracted to the Sugar Barge Event Center but were pleasantly surprised by the fact that, almost from the beginning, we began to have clients from throughout the Bay Area.

People come to us because they like the idea of hosting an event beside the water. The other reason they come to us is because we offer affordable, casual elegance that appeals strongly to many people. Clients can customize our facilities and services to their own needs and tastes. They have the choice of using our contracted catering services — provided by Brentwood’s Ralph’s Catering — and let Ralph’s staff people take care of the food. On the other hand, we leave Sugar Barge clients free to bring in their own catering service. Or, if they wish, they can do all the food preparation themselves. In any case, we make our full-service kitchen available, leaving clients free to use our industrial refrigerators, ovens, stoves, and utensils in any way they wish. As far as I know, that kind of freedom is unique. We don’t lock clients into a program; they are free to make their particular event as simple or elaborate as they wish. My sister-in-law, Sherrill Riggs, is the Event Center coordinator.

We’re trying to get out the word about Sugar Barge and to correct an impression, prevalent among some local residents, that this is only a restaurant. Some even think that it is a closed restaurant. We have been trying to educate people; letting the public know that Sugar Barge is a destination with activities for people who wish to play and to celebrate on the water.

User Rating: / 0
PoorBest