The curtain was brought down on 21 years of basketball at the Northgate Arena on Sunday night.
When the final buzzer sounded at the end of Cheshire Phoenix's heartbreaking 158-153 aggregate defeat to London Lions in the BBL Play-off semi-final, second leg, it also signified the end of Sunday nights under the yellow lights.
The Phoenix have a shiny, new 1,400 seater home to move into at the start of next season's BBL Championship when they take residence at the Cheshire Oaks Arena at Ellesmere Port Sports Village, an arena which finally stands alongside the very best in the league.
The new arena sees the Nix move from the heart of Chester back to nearer their spiritual home of Ellesmere Port, where the roots of the club were first sprouted in the early 1980s, but they will be moving with a growing fan base and a workable model for future growth.
But, for many, the departure from the Northgate will be bittersweet. It has been much maligned for years by some quarters for its unmistakeable yellow lighting and rock hard floor. But it has also been one of the greatest weapons in the armoury of the Chester Jets, Cheshire Jets and now the Cheshire Phoenix.
Now the dust is beginning to settle on what has been a tremendously entertaining season for Nix fans, where many a magical night such as Sunday has been had over the past eight months or so, those with longer memories who can recall the heyday of the Chester Jets and their all-conquering 2001-2002 'Jetwash' season, where they swept the board winning the league, BBL Trophy, BBL Cup and BBL Play-offs, may have gotten a little misty eyed when Sunday night's final buzzer sounded.
It was late 1993 when the Nix moved into the Northgate after entering the BBL as the Cheshire Jets and playing in Ellesmere Port.
They established themselves as part of British basketball's elite during the 1990s and made steady progress without making a sustained challenge for honours, although they did finish as runners-up in the BBL Trophy during the 1996-1997 season.
But it was the early 2000s where the Jets really stamped their authority on the league and made the city of Chester sit up and take notice that there was a revolution happening on Victoria Road.
LOOK: Chester Jets silverware successes
They won the BBL Trophy at the end of the 2000-2001 season and finished second in the league - their highest finish up until that point.
And then came the 'Jetwash'. Everything that could have been won during the 2001-2002 season was won. Under the stewardship of lauded BBL coach Robbie Peers the Jets dominated the British basketball landscape and boasted talent in their ranks including MVP winner John Thomas and the league's leading scorer John McCord.
That level of success was always going to be nigh on impossible to sustain but the Jets did win the Trophy the next two years and had runners-up medals in the BBL Cup (2002-2003) and the play-offs (2003-2004), although their challenge for title honours it the league began to fall away with third and fifth placed finishes in the two seasons that followed the 'Jetwash'.
But in 2004-2005 they were once again, with the help of leading scorer Trey Moore, crowned kings of the BBL when they lifted the championship title. They were also narrowly beaten 75-78 by Newcastle Eagles in the play-off final at the NIA in Birmingham.
The club struggled in the two seasons that followed and came close to extinction until they were saved in 2007 and re-branded the Cheshire Jets.
Mid-table finishes followed for the next five years but there were losing final appearances in the BBL Trophy and BBL Cup during the 2009-2010 season, but the silverware has evaded the club for a decade.
But the club faced its toughest challenge in 2012 when, facing expulsion from the BBL after financial difficulties, the club's future was hanging by a thread.
But cometh the hour, cometh the community and, spearheaded by local businessman Andrew Donaldson, volunteers, fans and campaigners ensured the club was able to raise the necessary £50,000 in 22 days in order to retain its place at British basketball's top table.
That figure was achieved and the Phoenix as we now know it rose from the ashes and ensured basketball was still the order of the day on Sunday's at the Northgate Arena, with the club changing tact and running as a community interest company,
The club has been on an upward trajectory since then and the move to the Cheshire Oaks Arena will ensure their chances for continued growth on an off the court are maximised.
This season has been a rollercoaster for Nix fans but how fitting that the end of an era should be an occasion so passionate and so meaningful. To have a team coached by someone of the calibre of John Coffino and have seen players including the likes of Demond Watt and former All-American Taylor King, the one-time number one high school player in the US, has been a privilege.
The Northgate has been synonymous with the club for over two decades but all good things come to an end. We can't hold on to the past forever. The move to the new arena will be a chance for new memories to be created, but those cherished moments when the Northgate Arena erupted into a deafening battle cry will never be forgotten. They'll always be part of a fabric a club that now truly belongs to the community.
Onwards and upwards.
