historic Camillus inn reopens as wedding venue after sale
The Inn Between’s 1880s manor house has been reborn as a wedding venue, with room for as many as 400 guests under tents.
A longtime Camillus gathering place has been given a second act, and the change could ripple through Onondaga County’s wedding economy. The former Inn Between restaurant at 2290 W. Genesee Turnpike has reopened as The Inn Between Wedding Venue, turning a familiar special-occasion stop into a larger event business rooted in the same historic property.
Chris and Penny Cesta closed the restaurant after 52 years on Jan. 18, 2025, when they retired. The LaLone family, who also own Gem Diner in Syracuse, bought the inn and the 16 acres around it and moved ahead with plans to make the site a wedding and event center. Doug LaLone said the project would be called The Inn Between Event Center, and the family worked with architects on the redesign.
The building itself gives the project a built-in advantage that generic banquet halls cannot match. It dates to the 1880s, and earlier coverage identified it as the manor house of the Monroe family. That history has become part of the pitch, with the property now branded as a historic site and historic estate reimagined rather than just another reception hall off Route 5.
The capacity numbers show why the site matters locally. Early plans called for events of about 100 guests inside the inn, while later reporting said the renovated first floor could hold about 100 to 120 people. A planned 7,000-square-foot barn was expected to fit at least 250 guests, and outdoor space could host 200 to 300, or 300 to 400 with tents. That range gives Camillus and the wider county a venue that can handle everything from smaller family celebrations to larger weddings without sending business to distant suburbs or resort properties.
For nearby vendors, the project creates a more local chain of spending. A wedding venue of this size can pull in caterers, florists, photographers, bakers, bands and transportation providers from across Central New York, while also drawing guests into Camillus and nearby Syracuse for hotels, after-parties and day-of services. The site’s revival also keeps an older structure active instead of letting a landmark sit idle.
The LaLones have done this before. Table Hopping noted that they revived The Gem and opened The Preserve at 405, which gave them a record of taking on older local properties and giving them new commercial life. In Camillus, that approach preserved a piece of the area’s past while creating a venue aimed at the region’s future celebrations.
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