By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The city is set to unwrap its new banquet room at the Colisee Tuesday, even though all the pieces won’t be in place.

Officials will open the Power Play Premium Club to select customers before Tuesday night’s Maineiacs game against the Quebec Remparts. The room is the final piece of Colisee renovations that began last spring.

Club guests at Tuesday’s game can have a nice dinner, some beer or wine and watch the game from special seats. But they won’t be able to drink anything harder, they won’t be able to watch the game on television from inside the room and they won’t have a special viewing stand.

“The big things are there,” said Phil Nadeau, assistant city administrator. “The room itself is ready. It’s just the minor things, the extra amenities, that still need to be completed.”

On Friday, crews were doing detail work on the rest of the Colisee. They expected to finish installing the special arena seats for the VIP room on Monday.

“Right now, they’re fixing a lock here and repairing a crack in a wall there,” said Paul Leclair, acting manager of the Colisee. “Other than that, the work is finished.”

Sales of club memberships were brisk Friday, according to City Treasurer Paul Labrecque. The city is offering temporary memberships for the next three home games, giving people a chance try out the club before committing themselves for the entire year. So far, the city has sold 38 of 132 available memberships.

“That’s changing, almost by the hour,” Labrecque said.

Memberships cost $240 apiece for the rest of the season. Next season, they will cost $3,800 for a table of four and $5,700 for a table of six. That gets members into the club, season tickets to Maineiacs games and a special parking place. Dinner and drinks are not included.

Missing pieces

Crews have yet to install a television system that will tie into live broadcasts of Maineiacs games, as well as other Oxford Networks programs.

Crews also need to put in a riser at the front of the room to let guests watch the game without having to leave.

But blame the weather on the lack of availability of hard liquor. The City Council was scheduled to review a distilled spirit liquor license for the room last week but their meeting was delayed by Wednesday’s snowstorm.

The council is scheduled to vote on it Monday night, but Nadeau said that won’t give the city enough time to get the bar ready for Tuesday’s game.

The Colisee is currently licensed to sell beer and wine, but the city wants a separate license to sell hard liquor in the VIP room. Only members with upgraded tickets will be able to buy the harder drinks and they’ll have to stay in the room while they drink them.