ROCKY MOUNT EVENTS CENTER

Home to a little bit of everything...

Story by Gene Metrick

Like most public venues across the country, the Rocky Mount Event Center was forced to shut down operations in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the return of activity to the event center earlier this year brought a hopeful, cautious return to a semblance of normalcy to downtown Rocky Mount.

“On Valentine’s Day weekend, after getting clearance and presenting our reopening plan to the city manager, we were able to safely reopen for sporting events and we were one of the first venues of our size in the state to do so,” said David Joyner, general manager of the event center. “Since restrictions began to ease, we were able to begin booking small events and small catering events and reopened for our first real sporting event, a youth volleyball tournament that brought in 140 teams on Feb. 12.”

In addition to the volleyball tournament that marked the center's reopening in February, the center also was able to safely host a dance competition at the same time as one of the sporting events in different areas of the building.

“The restaurants and hotels in the area are ecstatic that we’re able to do these events again,” Joyner said. “These events always have a big economic impact.”

The 165,000-square-foot, $48-million event center opened in October 2018, and it immediately started attracting functions, bringing in $1.2 million in revenue during its first year of operation.

The facility features eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts, locker rooms, 17 climbing walls and an aerial ropes course. It also has banquet and breakout rooms, an arcade center and concession areas.

“The Rocky Mount Event Center is a crucial central component of... Rocky Mount’s longterm strategy to redevelop and reinvent downtown Rocky Mount,” Joyner said. “Our team’s focus is to make our facility a soughtafter state-wide destination that provides a unique and excellent experience for sports, entertainment and corporate and social events."

Joyner said as safety restrictions were eased a bit, the facility became the scene of limited-size conferences and meetings.

Joyner said he and the management team also began allowing the use of the Game Day Adventure and Arcade area — except for the foam ball pit — by limited numbers of people on a reservation-only basis.

That setup includes 20 arcade games, 19 climbing walls, a ropes course with 12 different obstacles, an area where one can redeem prizes, four different party rooms, four foosball tables, two pool tables and cornhole games.

“We have just about anything you can think of,” said Jajuan Mabry, the event center’s box office and family entertainment center manager.

Joyner said the facility was opened to tours by limited numbers of officials, event holders and tournament directors, both from inside and outside the state.

“They think it’s one of the most impressive facilities in the state,” he said. “They’re extremely shocked that a community our size has a facility this nice — and they all talk about the versatility of the facility.”

Many of the center's employees had to be furloughed during the pandemic until the facility could reopen.

“Except for the management team and a few hourly staff members, most of our staff had to be furloughed during that time," Joyner said. "During that shutdown period, our management team focused intently on the aggressive marketing and selling of our venue to position us for strong reopening.

“Our strategy was that we knew we had to

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be ready for whenever we were able to reopen. We’re booked for almost every weekend from now through the summer for sports.”

Before the coronavirus disrupted life around the world, the event center played host to basketball and volleyball tournaments that attracted hundreds of visitors and dozens of teams to the area. "Our organization, Teammate Basketball, has been fortunate enough to bring youth basketball tournaments to the Rocky Mount Event Center,” said Blake Thompson, Teammate Basketball owner. “(It) is a perfect setting for tournaments like ours.”

Troy Helton, director of Ethos Volleyball Club, organized a two-day tournament in 2019, with 98 teams and more than 1,500 spectators coming to the Rocky Mount area.

“We were really impressed with the management, staff and venue,” Helton said. “The facility is first-class and kept in immaculate condition. The staff was super helpful and kept the parents and players happy all weekend.”

In bringing back the larger events, Joyner said they have had to learn new processes and safety procedures to continue to comply with COVID restrictions. Part of this is participating in training through Count On Me NC, “a public health initiative that empowers visitors, guests and businesses to help keep everyone safe from COVID-19,” according to the Count On Me NC website.

Despite the lack of activity during the shutdown, employees were still hard at work to expand what the event center has to offer, including the achievement of a new KultureCity verification.

“This is an extensive sensory inclusivity training that taught us how we can be more sensitive to the needs of all of our guests, from those with autism to people who struggle with PTSD and anyone with a sensory-inclusive need,” Joyner said. “We have quiet rooms in our facility and kits with things such as headphones. We want to be accessible to a diverse group of people who have a diversity of needs.”

Over 40 staff members received the KultureCity training, and it will continue to be a mandatory part of training for all new employees. Joyner said that so far, the response from the community has been very positive.

“I’ve gotten messages on LinkedIn and emails from people saying they have loved ones with autism or have autism — and they’re so excited that we’ve taken this step,” he said. "It was really eye opening for me just how it was for so many people.”

With the facility now at nearly normal operations and a full slate of events and tournaments booked, Joyner said he and his staff are optimistic about the future of the facility.

“One interesting result of COVID is that businesses have had to innovate and adapt — and there are things that we’ve learned and are doing differently that we wouldn’t have thought to do before,” Joyner said. “With the new certifications and safety measures and everything, it’s given us an opportunity to build an even stronger relationship with our local and state tourism partners.

“That’s something that I’ve been really proud of and our community should be proud of, that the Edgecombe, Nash and even Wilson tourism offices, we’ve all met together, and they all work together and use our facility as an anchor. It gives us the chance to be strategic and unified in marketing and deciding our plans to make sure it benefits each county.”

Gene Metrick is Editor of the Rocky Mount Telegram.