After seven months of renovations, the family behind The Copper Lantern cut the ribbon on a new event venue at 716 Indiana Ave. in southwest Rockford, transforming a 1953 building that spent 72 years as the Rockford Lithuanian Club into a space built for weddings, quinceañeras and memorials alike. The venue can hold up to 400 people, depending on the layout chosen for an event.
Owners Shawn and Libbey Cox purchased the former club building and began the conversion earlier this year, according to Rock River Current. The couple celebrated the grand opening alongside Rockford Mayor Janessa Neal, Alderwoman Gabrielle Torina and other project supporters, and the event doubled as both a ribbon-cutting and open house, giving the community its first full look at the reworked space. As rockfordnewsfirst.com reported, city leaders, company officials and community members turned out to mark the completion of the venue.
The Lithuanian Club had been a fixture in the neighborhood since it was built in 1953, closing its doors in October 2025 after 72 years in business, per rockfordnewsfirst.com's reporting. City Council cleared the way for its next chapter back on February 2, when aldermen voted 13-0 to approve a special-use permit allowing the property to become an event space, according to Rock River Current.
From Social Club to Celebration Hall
The renovation kept much of the building's bones while reworking it for modern gatherings. Crews reimagined the old stage as a lounge area, refinished the dance floor, installed new flooring, added wainscoting, remodeled the bathrooms and built a stone fireplace feature, according to the seed reporting from Rock River Current. With tables set up, the venue seats 205 people; switched to an open floor plan, it can accommodate the full 400-person capacity.
Rock River Current's earlier coverage, published in September, described the finished interior as designed for weddings, quinceañeras, showers, birthdays, memorials and other special events. MyStateline's reporting on the project characterized the effort as an adaptive reuse that restored the building while reinventing it as a modern event center, preserving its mid-century character rather than erasing it.
A Personal Connection for Rockford's Mayor
For Mayor Neal, the opening carried a personal note: she said her stepmother held her wedding reception at the venue, and she called the building's transformation a showcase of Rockford's growth, adding that she looks forward to Rockford families and friends making memories there. Alderwoman Torina, whose ward includes the property, said the community already had stories and history attached to the building, and that it could now serve residents in a different way.
Shawn Cox said the goal behind The Copper Lantern was to give younger people a place to celebrate, while also creating a gathering spot for the wider community to mark life's milestones, according to rockfordnewsfirst.com. The venue joins other event spaces around Rockford, including the downtown Union Event Space, which offers roughly 11,000 square feet for weddings and corporate gatherings, according to its own website.
The Copper Lantern can be reached at 608-713-1235 or by email at [email protected], and keeps a Facebook presence under the handle @copperlanternevent.
