This photo of our staff is my new favorite. Change is happening along with the seasons.
I’ll introduce these wonderful folks and how they’re helping at The Inn at 28 and The Old Grey Hound.
On the far left is my husband Shawn & I with our dog, Petri. Our son John is next, who is working tirelessly (with a smile) to get the pub open, along with his Boston Terror, Stella. He’s back in Cuba and he’ll be managing The Old Grey Hound.
Next, in orange, is Claire, our Innkeeper, with her chocolate lab, Mak. She’s who you talk to when you call the inn. Her specialty is customer service. She makes sure that everything is just perfect, all day, every day. She’s the queen of the castle!
Next to her is Brien, our greeter/decorator. She comes to the inn each evening to answer questions and fix a snack for guests. Brien also maintains our booth at the Friday Cuba Farmers’ Market, managed by the Cuba Cultural Center. Stop by and say hi and ask any questions while you’re there or ask for a quick tour! She takes care of our seasonal decorations with her sister, Katie, who’s holding Edna, our naughty chicken. Katie is CCW for the Inn, ‘Certified Chicken Wrangler’. She cares for our feathered ladies, recently moving our babies into their new coop from her kitchen. When they got large enough that she needed to move them with a wagon, it was time for them to move to the inn.
Annette is behind Brien. She handles marketing for both the inn and pub. She’s the one with the clever Facebook posts and managed getting our beautiful site, www.theinnat28.com, up and running. She also synced our reservation system AND AirBnb. She’s a wiz on analytics AND flipping rooms from time to time when our summer help goes back to college. Maureen, my wonderful niece flipped rooms, cleaned grease traps, and painted away her summer vacation. We’re hoping she serves as a weekend warrior at the pub occasionally along with her brother, Kyle, who has the huge handsome smile right under the guest sign. He’s been whistling all doo dong day as he’s scraped the pillars of the pub back to the 1850s and learned a lot as Mike’s (our property manager) assistant. Both Kyle & Maureen are off to Erie PA for college.
In the front is our bartender/up-cycler/event planner, Mary Beth with her daughter Lindsey and her son, Graham. Lindsey and Graham are leaving us to move to Portland, OR. We wish them all the very best and plan to get grandma out there as frequently as possible. Lindsey has been grooming the raised beds and flowers on the property, along with sharing some great vegan food. Mary Beth has been busy getting the pub ready and has been hosting baby showers, celebrations of life, and surprise parties at the inn. We expect to host more when the pub is open.
In the rear with the grey shirt is Mikayla. She’s an organizational genius. She makes order out of chaos. She assists with accounting, flipping, painting and just about anything, extremely well, always. She recently had a wrench thrown in her plans. The dental hygienist school she was planning to attend this fall closed unexpectedly. More change! She has the cutest Béarnaise Mountain Dog puppy with her boyfriend Aaron, in the red next to her. He and Evan, with the smile to the left of the post are our grounds guys, grooming the property around their other jobs.
Between Evan and Kyle is Taylor. He’s back in Cuba, post college, for a short time before he leaves for the Army. He has been painting his way through college. His experience has paid off, but I’m afraid he’ll be outta here before it’s all complete. We wish him all the best and are proud of his service.
On the far end with the slight smile is Mike, our ‘property preservationist’. Mike does fabulous work, from assuring the faucets and drains run perfectly to re-supporting beams and building shelves at the pub. He gets it done. Ike is in the chef jacket, using his experience to create a terrific menu for The Old Grey Hound which will include small plates, sandwiches, salads, & entrees. He’ll be using local offerings of fresh, quality ingredients as available.
Our planned back of the house manager, Laura, is missing from this photo. She was offered a great opportunity we can’t match and will be re-locating. We’ll miss her, Kyle, Maureen, Taylor, Lindsey, and Graham, but are seeking new awesome staff to join us. Change can be difficult but is inevitable. The faces may change, but our commitment to our mission won’t!