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Tractorgrease Cafe and Studio to Close Permanently After September 5 Show

Fraser Valley – Arts and Entertainment has taken an obvious beating during the pandemic. While buskers are gong to be headed back to the streets and venues like the Chilliwack Cultural Centre re-open, that is not the case for Tractorgrease on Chilliwack Lake Road.

The garage turned studio and cafe has been through plenty of drama.

From COVID shutdown to a June 2020 Car Wreck that nearly took out the building. That FVN story is here.

Earlier in 2021 owner Jeff Bonner took to social media to vent over the cost of property taxes that were not helping in the recovery. Bonner, in the spring, also posted to Facebook that he was planning to sell some of his electronic equipment.

It has become too much and the final show will be September 5.

Bonner will also film a documentary of the last performances.

The website for shows and tickets is here.

In it’s heyday, the studio/cafe also received local radio support including financial breaks via CRTC programs. Music 101 was an artist development package for artists of all ages, genres and experience levels to advance and develop their careers.

Bonner took to Facebook to announce the difficult decision:

It’s been a tough road this last little while and staying focused, optimistic and motivated has been a challenge. Nearly 20 yrs of self employment as Tractorgrease has led my interests on many ventures. Live production, stage rentals, recording, filming and this cool venue. I never imagined a scenario where all my interests were shut down. “It’ll be 2 weeks ” turned into months and now years. The pain of all this hard work leading to cancellations , refunds and closures has been unbearable. We were never in this together!!! Some of us saw our lifes work crumble for your safety.

I built Tractorgrease by creating a community, a music and artistic family of artists and patrons. It has been so rewarding to see it grow and morph into what it is now. 8 years ago I had to leave my studio in downtown Chilliwack because my business didn’t fit into the new plans of a new landlord. It was devastating as I had invested all my blood sweat, tears and lots of $ into my dream studio. I left that behind and moved up Chilliwack Lake Rd . Pointa Vista was a mechanic shop, wrecking yard and cafe. I never planned on turning it into what it is now. But hey I think it’s pretty cool!!! It’s far cooler than the studio I left behind and I find myself at the same crossroads today. The response to the pandemic has hit extremely hard financially and it just doesn’t seem feasible to continue. Our last show here will be Sunday Sept 5th. We have lots of great shows booked for August and I hope to see lots of familiar faces over the next few weeks.So get your Tractorgrease fix this month, we’re filming a documentary and would love all of you to share some memories of this place.

Both FVN and chillTV have reached out to Bonner a number of times over the past year for an on camera interview.

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