Barber Park Education and Event Center

As my wife and I were searching for a venue for our wedding, we found the Barber Park Event Center website and were excited to see it. Upon visiting the center, we loved the location and thought the trees surrounding it would be perfect for a fall wedding. We booked our wedding for November 5th. Although the facility is beautiful, it is run by the county therefor you must follow their rules to the "t". There is absolutely no flexibility in their policies. You must hire their bar caterer and their security guards. All of your vendors must have insurance to come on to the property for your event. Our flower people had not renewed their insurance, so they had to meet someone off-site and transfer the flowers to them to get to us. Why would a flower company need insurance to deliver flowers? As my bride and I arrived at the facility when the reception began, we first saw the facility employee who was dressed like she just came from the ranch and had the most unfriendly look on her face, talking to one of the security guards out front. My wife asked me "what is wrong, did something happen?" Nothing had happened, this girl just couldn't force out a smile. Even when my bride said "hello" to her she received a snotty look in return. The bar caterers must have had somewhere better to be as well because they couldn't even to pretend to be having any fun. They were sure keeping busy and making good tips, but acted like they had somewhere better to be. As my new wife and I were having our first dance, a uniformed security guard strolled across the dance floor right in front of us as our videographer and photographer were recording our dance. All events, like ours, must end at 9pm at this facility. At 8:15, as our crowd was beginning to thin, the event staff (the unfriendly girl) came in and started breaking down chairs and tables. She was stacking these chairs so loudly that we could hear it from across the room and while the music was still playing. Needless to say, between the large list of their rules, the inability to accommodate their clients and the lack of professionalism, I would never recommend this location for a personal event.

I was so excited to get married at Barber Park, it is were my husband proposed and is a park that both of us have happy memories at. I realize since it is part of the city parks and rec they have certian guidlines they have to go by, but overall I think their customer service has left something to be desired. The day we met with the girl at Barber Park with my husband, mother and mother-in-law we were told that, they are very busy with weddings in the summer, I completly understand it's beautiful, and that we had to send an email exactly one year in advance to get the date I wanted because it was during busy summer wedding time. We asked all asked many times to make sure that what we were being told was accurate and we were told yes that all we need to do was send an email at midnight one year to the day in advance to get the date and that the email will be time stamped so they will know when we sent it, incase another bride sent one the same night. So the night one year in advance my mom, husband and I all sent emails to make sure it for sure was received. I was so excited the next morning to get a call saying yes I was having my wedding there in a year, that call never came. I called them and was told that another bride had emailed to but had also filled out some sort of application. That application and their website had changed since I met with the girl at the site. Because I wasn't told that things had changed there was a possibility I wasn't going to get my wedding date. I think my mom and I made enough of a stink that Barber Park finally realized that they had made a mistake and I go the wedding day I wanted. The next problem was all of the vendor insurance they wanted. And I feel like they were hounding my vendors to give them insurance, which some don't have because it makes no sense and is expensive. Like I said earlier I know that since it is a city/county building there a lot of beuracratic things that need to happen but I also felt it was completely unnecessary for my band to have insurance, they were only playing music outside, that's it. I also wish they had given me more than one choice for a bar vendor, I feel that giving at least one more choice will make people happier. Overall, the day turned out beautiful and the location was great, so was the price.

Barber Park is a beautiful venue without a doubt; however the park staff that runs the building are really really difficult to work with, required unnecessary costs and at times gave incorrect information. The women who work at barber park would act put out whenever I called as if I, the bride, was a large inconvenience to them. In fact two weeks before my wedding I received a call from my DJ saying he would no longer be able to work our event because he did not have a large amount of insurance that was unnecessary at every other venue in Boise. They also kept telling me that they had the freedom to open up the river to floaters whenever they felt like it and they could even open it up just for a day if they wanted and if that was the case we would be required to either pay $6 a car or have our guests pay that. When renting the venue you are also required to have two security guards present at your event that you must pay for. These security guards had nothing to do they just walked around my reception in their mall cop outfits and got in the way, it seemed absolutely ridiculous that they were there and we were paying them by the hour to be there. Lastly, on my final tour through the venue with our wedding coordinator I asked them in the microphones both lapel and free standing worked together, because I had heard they did not and she replied with, "yes, of course" and looked at me like an idiot; however the day of did both microphones work together....nope it was impossible for them to work together and our pastor had to keep taking off his lapel mike and holding it for us to say our vows. Ultimately, the number of wedding venues is small in Boise and this venue is very pretty, just be prepared to deal with a lot of BS from the staff who runs it as well as pay for things that are ridiculous.

Beautiful venue and really nice staff to work with. The front office was really great and easy to work with anytime I needed to get a hold of them they were available. It was really nice to have the venue as early as 8 am for decorating. The only thing that I would have preferred is for the venue to be available to a later time. But overall I was thrilled. Everyone loved it and is now recommending it to friends.

I absolutely loved this venue for my wedding...absolutely beautiful! The downside is that it is run by the County, so there is NO flexibility. I had the same issue with the security guards and having to vacate the building...but its not like you don't know it going in to your agreement. We also had an "excessive cleaning" charge that came up ONE YEAR after our wedding. I'm still not sure what that was all about since we left the place how we found it, but it was easier to pay it than argue.

This was a excellent facility, and the staff was outstanding. we will have very fond memories for generations to come in our families. Thanks so much for your support during our kids wedding. We will always tell others and encourage them to use this facility for their larger events. Rob Fairweather deserves a big atta-boy for his due diligence in being there in all times of need, what a great person to have supporting us! Thanks, Greg & Sarah Kirkes PS, keep up the great work and hats off to all who manage this wonderful facility!

We chose the Barber Park Event Center for the proximity to the church, and for its contemporary style, and for the nature surrounding it. The value for the price was very good, but there were so many stipulations and rules. Originally, when we booked the venue, the woman who helped us and was in charge was FABULOUS. She was very helpful, and easy to get ahold of. When the time got closer to our wedding, another woman had taken over her position. She was the opposite of helpful, and very difficult to get ahold of. We had trouble coordinating with her, and the rest of our vendors, who I (the bride) booked, had some difficulties working with her. The actual building was wonderful. It has a kitchen, fireplaces, 2 outdoor patios, etc etc. A great bargain. One other thing to be weary about is that they made us be out of the building, including all rentals, decor, etc by 9 pm because of county ordinances. It was okay for us because we still had a 5 hour reception, but it was hard for our people cleaning up.

We found the Barber Park Event Center to be a beautiful and new location in Boise. It provided us with an perfect setting for an outdoor wedding on the covered awning area and a great indoor reception. It's really a beautiful location that has everything you need; table, chairs, speakers, ect. We did have problems with the staff there. We found them hard to get a hold of. They switched the person in charge half way through so it was like starting over completely. They required us to have 2 security guards, which we had to pay for of course. Then we saw only one there, and all she did was sit in the back and read her book! Pretty disappointing. But overall the setting was so pretty and worked out great for our needs.