Overview of our Vision
Our vision and plans for the Wright Tavern are to make it “an active tavern and gathering place within an interactive museum.” Historically, Taverns are gathering places where people come, learn, and discuss the day's events. The Wright Tavern will be a gathering place for meetings, educational programs, events, celebrations, and reenactments. Refreshments will provide both entertainment value and important sources of income. If we are able to obtain the necessary licenses and funding, then this tavern will provide both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks including beer, wine and colonial period signature drinks. All this would be within an interactive museum, where people can walk around and learn about the events of historic Concord and the founding of the United States and sit at tables to engage each other and or interpretative staff experts in colonial and American history. This will be a unique and highly attractive place where we hope people say, “Let’s meet at the Wright Tavern.”
Primary Goals
Preserve and sustain the Wright Tavern’s role as an iconic, historic building of Concord.
Open the Wright Tavern to the public for community, visitors and tourists.
Become a community and cultural center in Concord.
Be financially self-sustaining without reliance on First Parish or public funding.
Develop our programs with a high degree of collaboration with other historic sites and community involvement.
Key Milestones
The following describes by year the critical priorities and action plans for the Wright Tavern. These are based on our structural assessment and understanding of what is needed by the market.
2023: Finalize all designs and make critical repairs to the building
2024: Continue implementing improvements to the building as permitted and needed to prepare the building for its ultimate use; begin offering soft public openings, events, and guided visitor tours in the Fall – with exhibits, catered refreshments and programs.
2025: Continue improvements to the building and programming; host events, meetings and “pop-up” activities; implement new exhibits and services tied to the interests of our visitors and the Concord250 celebratory events.
2026: Expand the improvements in services and exhibitions and promote the building as a place for gatherings, meetings, events, and enjoyment by the community. We will also shift the focus from capital improvements to operating the business and serving our guests and customers.
Overall Strategy
Our overall strategy will be to transform the Wright Tavern from its current commercial-centric location to a Concord community-centric location. To achieve this vision, our plan includes the following strategies:
We will create multiple sources of revenue that support the preservation and effective utilization of the Wright Tavern. These include year-round income sources from refreshment and concession sales, rentals from building use for events and meetings, annual fundraising with memberships and public promotions, educational programs, professionally guided tours, and office rental space to organizations with similar historical and educational missions. These multiple sources will help support the financial sustainability and make a positive economic impact on the Tavern.
As we receive capital investments, we will implement improvements to the building that build on the previous improvements. We will design and implement improvements as we can afford them from contributions and grants. These capital improvements will be in three phases:
Stabilization – Assuring the preservation of the building
Restoration and Rehabilitation – Building the infrastructure of the building necessary to support visitors and programming planned for the Tavern.
Exhibit and Program Development – As funding and interest permit, we will develop multiple types of exhibits (i.e., displays, artifacts, interactive media, etc.) and programs with other institutions and communities.
We will develop and implement programs, reenactments, pop-up celebrations, and high-visibility meetings that utilize the building when it is safe and available, given our construction and rehabilitation plans.
We will pursue actions that build support in the community and our primary funding sources as we move toward the vision for the Wright Tavern. This includes building trust and confidence in various town and civic committees in our plans and operations and other historic sites in Concord and beyond.
The Wright Tavern will be managed by professionals with particular expertise and experience in supporting the vision, plans, and operations of the organization. Staffing will be shared with other organizations or added to meet the needs as they evolve. We will hire and expand staff as funding to provide secured salaries and benefits to our staff members; until that is possible, we will seek assistance from volunteers and service contracts with individuals and organizations.