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Lane Family Funeral Homes in Boardman says it wants to be known as an all-purpose event center
BOARDMAN
When Madison Stewart started to plan a party to celebrate her graduation from Canfield High School this year, she didn’t imagine that it would take place at a venue with “funeral” in the name.
“A lot of people were like, ‘Isn’t that a funeral home?’ I was like, ‘No!’” she said of Lane Family Funeral Homes’ event center, located off Market Street on Tod Avenue and attached to the Anstrom Chapel.
Stepping inside the facility, which the company is promoting as an all-purpose event center, one is reminded more of a hotel conference center with its sterile but inviting atmosphere.
“What’s so nice is when you walk in, it doesn’t feel like a funeral home. It feels like a living room,” said Stewart, whose mother, Stephanie, works for Lane. “Everyone talks about the ‘funeral-home smell’ – and there isn’t that.”
It made her feel better, she said, that preparations such as embalming do not take place at the Anstrom Chapel, which is one of several facilities Lane operates in the Valley.
Stewart looked at other venues for her graduation party but chose Lane because of its size, she said.
Bill Forsberg, chief operating officer, and Kattie Royal, events coordinator, point to other features of the newly refurbished site that allows it to accommodate events of all kinds, such as: a 200-seat multipurpose room, 100-plus parking spots, a fireplace with adjacent seating areas, a basement with a “bistro area,” and a banquet room with a dance floor and space for 175 people.
“All of our rooms can be used for a multitude of purposes,” Royal said. “We want people, when they come in, to not just view this as a funeral home. ... It’s a place of service, and it can be any service you can think of.”
“It’s designed as an event center, and funerals are just one part of what we do,” Forsberg said, adding that their primary focus remains death care. This is just “a way for the Lane family to work in the community needs.”
What Lane is attempting is something that other funeral homes across the country are doing in increasing numbers.
“It’s still not terribly widespread, but there is an increase in funeral homes that are remodeling existing facilities or building new facilities that are capable of accommodating events,” said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association.
In 2011, the NFDA reported that 6 percent of its members had family or community centers; in 2014, that rose to 9.5 percent.
The reason for the trend, Koth says, is twofold.
“It’s really the changing nature of how families are choosing to honor their loved ones. Funerals today look very different than they did 25, 30 years ago. People are planning celebrations of life, so they are looking for funeral homes that can be flexible,” she said.
Plus, “It’s a great way for funeral homes to introduce the level of service that they offer in a different way to their community,” Koth said.
Stewart’s is one of just a few parties Lane’s Anstrom facility has hosted, but Forsberg and Royal hope to attract other similar events. A priority, they say, is hosting a wedding there sometime this year.
Guests at the June 12 event, for the most part, didn’t seem to think the choice of venue was strange.
“It didn’t really seem like it was at a funeral home. It just seemed like we were going to a grad party,” said Kyle Anderson, who graduated with Stewart.
“I just thought it was different,” said Ronie Haurin. “It’s sort of nice to do something unique.”
Another guest said she thought the choice was strange, saying it reminded her of attending a funeral for a loved one recently. “But I guess to each their own,” she said.