6 minute read
Event Center
By Patrick Mason
Construction workers work on the Rocky Mount Event Center.
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Rocky Mount sees itself as being a destination city with an abundance of potential.
Soon, that view will come closer to reality with one of the larger projects nearing completion.
The Eastern North Carolina town has been in transition and trending upward for some time now, and after years of effort, planning and construction of buildings and hangouts like the everpopular Rocky Mount Mills, the linchpin of the whole operation — the Rocky Mount Event Center — is on the way.
The Harlem Globetrotters will headline the Nov. 4 grand opening, kicking off an ambitious project that will bring new business and opportunities to the area.
The Event Center will be the home to a number of sporting events from around the area, as well as larger statewide and regional tournaments like the NTBA — National Travel Basketball Association — which will host its state championship at the event center in 2019.
The South Carolina-based league traditionally plays its championships in Charlotte and Myrtle Beach but has chosen Rocky Mount as its home moving forward. This is a landmark event, and will help kickstart the sports culture at the Event Center.
John McDonald, the regional executive for Sports Facilities Management, a company that helps plan and guide the infancy phases of centers like this, said in May that the Event Center has received 47 requests for events.
McDonald said he believes that once other tournament directors see that something like the NTBA state championships can play and succeed here, it will be an important step in booking more tournaments like it.
“We have three events scheduled and two state championships with the NTBA,” McDonald said. “It’s one of the first dominoes to fall. Most people have never heard of Rocky Mount, but once these events start coming
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through, word will get out. It’s located just a couple hours from everything you need, and teams from Virginia or D.C. are already used to traveling five-plus hours for tournaments, so this wouldn’t be out of their range.”
While the complete list of events scheduled won’t be released until August, events such as basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, concerts and parties and large catered events are on the docket.
The Event Center won’t just be a sports destination. The building is multi-purpose and comes in at a whopping a 150,000 square feet, taking up over a city block in downtown real estate.
Reuben Blackwell, CEO of the Opportunities Industrialization Center, assured interested parties during a hard-hat walkthrough that the center aims to revitalize Rocky Mount in more ways than one
The space will contain an urgent care center as well as an imaging center, which will be a stateof-the-art facility that aims to help under-served people in the community who need medical help.
Neva Blackwell, left, gives a tour of the area which will become the OIC Downtown Health Plaza to, from right, Shari Dickens, Dr. Tiffany Tyson, Dr. Nana Arthur and Theresa Alston Stokes during the preview event at the Rocky Mount Event Center.
Rocky Mount Councilman Reuben Blackwell, the president and CEO of Opportunities Industrialization Center, speaks during the preview event at the Rocky Mount Event Center.
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