Stunning florals surround a small lake at Willow Cove Pavilion in in East Bend.
Kitsey Burns Harrison | The Yadkin Ripple
EAST BEND —Down a narrow, winding dirt road — far off the beaten path in East Bend— sprawls a venue as gorgeous as any countryside landscape ever painted. Willow Cove Pavilion, located at 5912 Dove Lane, possesses all the natural beauty and charm afforded to the North Carolina terrain.
Born of happenstance, the wedding pavilion opened to the public last year.
Owner Roger Kercher said, “people kept saying ‘this would be a great place to get married’ and then we built our first building. Then I thought we needed a place to eat, so we built another building…we just keep adding something every year.”
Kercher originally purchased the 90+ wooded acres for his own personal use more than forty years ago. Since youth he had yearned to own land. He explained, “I lived in Cleveland, OH where the houses are on top of each other. When we played baseball on asphalt, second base was always the manhole cover. To just own two acres would have made me feel like I was in heaven.”
So fierce was his determination to possess acreage that while other 11-year olds were playing, he was busy working to make his dream a reality.
“I wanted so bad to own land when I was a boy that I started saving money on two-cent bottle deposits, I got up to $3000… I tried to buy land in Ohio, but it never worked out.”
He might not have been able to realize his dream in Ohio, but, after years of hard work, he was finally able to acquire his “heaven” right here in the Yadkin Valley.
After the initial land purchase, Kercher and his partner Charlotte Del Valle, in conjunction with their church and the Christian non-profit group Love Out Loud, opened up the land to host events for Boy Scouts and underprivileged children.
“They would come in and fish and do different activities like archery,” said Del Valle. Kercher added, “At one point we had 70 or more kids at a time.”
When asked what prompted him to do this, Kercher said, “When I was younger I went to a special camp for children with medical problems and I always felt — as corny as it sounds — that I wanted to do something for somebody else.”
Along with children’s activities, came retirement parties and birthday parties at the Pavilion.
The seed planted by sponsoring all of these events, Del Valle said is what blossomed into their next idea: “It just kind of evolved. We thought why not make it into a wedding venue?”
Popular of Willow Cove’s many wedding amenities is the convenient parking and covered venues to withstand unforeseen weather debacles, and dove releases over the lake. They have also expanded to include a bridal dressing area, complete with bathroom and shower, and a large sitting area for the bridal entourage.
It is Kercher’s attention to even the smallest of details that gives Willow Cove such a unique feel.
“We try to plant things like butterfly bushes to always have butterflies for the guests.”
This is evidenced not only by his stunning floral arrays that adorn both the spacious Pavilion and dining shelters but also by the breathtaking backdrop of the private lake which accentuates the Pavilion. Del Valle said, “he even built the lake. It wasn’t here originally.”
From the wistful reverie of a little boy that dreamed of owning a single square of green land, to the full grown fruition of that fantasy, Willow Cove Pavilion is the picture definition of the word ‘paradise.’
To book a wedding or event, call either 336-413-3803 or 336-403-6694 or visit www.willowcovepavilion.com.