Free drinks, Children laughing, and parents and hipsters chatting: only a regular would know this is the Verve’s last evening in business.

“We didn’t want to tuck our tail between our legs and steal out like a lot of businesses do. We wanted to go out with a bang,” said Gary Hemenway, who owned the Verve with his wife, Lauren.

The Hemenways had been talking about closing for a few months but decided for certain only a few weeks ago.

“We are out of steam,” said Hemenway, who is also a pastor at a local church, while his wife works two other jobs. “We couldn’t convince enough people enough of the time.”

Still the Hemenways view the Verve as a success.

“It was a success in terms of the relationships we made. We always told our staff, ‘we want you to go deep and not wide. It starts with their drinks,'” he said.

“We loved all the connections we made. In the last two years we’ve gotten to know Whitman students who have now graduated. We would have loved to know every student and every professor,” said Hemenway.

At the Verve closing celebration, community member Kevin Van Muren commented, “You would have never known. It really looked like a meeting place for the community… But I guess that’s what it has been all along.”