Visit Beloit seeking liquor license

BELOIT — Visit Beloit is seeking approval to sell beer and wine at events as the tourism bureau nears moving back into its remodeled location at 656 Pleasant St. this spring.

In September, the Visit Beloit staff vacated the former St. Paul’s Catholic Church so that Gilbank Construction could rebuild the upper level and turn it into an event venue for parties, reunions, corporate meetings and receptions for up to 150 people.

A liquor license request is a necessary step to be able to book those events.

Visit Beloit Chief Executive Officer Celestino Ruffini said Visit Beloit hopes to be back in the building within the next six to eight weeks.

“The work has been moving along well, and they are currently focused on all of the wall finishes within the events venue portion of the building,” Ruffini said in an email. “The first official events to take place will be related to the Beloit International Film Festival at the end of March, although we anticipate having a public ribbon cutting ceremony prior to that.”

The 656 Pleasant St. building is one of those Beloit landmarks where local residents can tell when someone moved to the community by what they call the building. Built in 1914, it was St. Paul’s Catholic Church until 1989. Beloit College used it for a short time for storage. Then in 1998, it opened as the Angel Museum, featuring nearly 10,500 angel figurines collected by Joyce Berg.

The Angel Museum lasted for 20 years. The collection was auctioned off after it closed in 2018. Visit Beloit, which has called several locations home during its history, bought the building in 2020. Eventually, Visit Beloit plans to build a 7,000-square-foot addition that could house several organizations.