Event Center officially opens
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 6, 2016 1:46 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
City and county officials cheer as the ribbon is cut by former Mayor Al King, right of center, at the Goldsboro Event Center Tuesday evening. Before and after the ribbon cutting, community members were invited in for a look at the facility and to sample food and beverages from local businesses.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Goldsboro Event Center manager Toby Brown claps during the welcome speech Tuesday night.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Hundreds of people attend the Goldsboro Event Center ribbon cutting ceremony, which celebrated the opening of the facility.
With a packed parking lot and hundreds of people coming out to see the freshly completed Goldsboro Event Center, city staff and elected officials marked the official grand opening of the center on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting and dinner.
"When we first started talking about purchasing this building, I was at about a one or a two," said City Manager Scott Stevens. "As renovations got under way, I was at about a five or a six. And now as we see it completed, I would say I'm at an eight or a nine (out of 10.)"
Mayor Chuck Allen said the center will fill the need in the community for additional meeting space, which was one of the primary driving forces in the decision to purchase, renovate and operate the new event center.
The total price tag for the purchase of the building and the completed renovations is estimated to be $1.2 million, with the purchase of the building in January 2015 making up $400,000 of that total price.
Now that the renovations to the former Goldsboro Country Club at 1502 S. Slocumb St. are complete, operations of the Goldsboro city golf course will merge with the new event center in the coming months.
The old golf pro shop building for the Goldsboro city golf course will be demolished in the coming months, allowing for golf operations to merge with the new facility. Golf carts will be stored on a patio beside where the Goldsboro Country Club pool used to be.
During the renovations, the center was gutted, many walls were knocked down, new walls were erected and nearly all of the rooms underwent significant changes.
When golfers and patrons walk into the front door, the first thing they will notice is that the men's and women's bathrooms will have switched sides.
The women's bathroom is now larger as well.
But in the back of the country club, where men's and women's locker rooms, complete with their own restrooms, were constructed, the men's locker room and restroom area are larger than the women's facilities.
When golfers enter the facility when the two operations merge, they will enter from the left side of the building and will have locker rooms to the right and an area with a bar, pro shop counter and seating to the left.
The outdoor patio area behind the country club was also extended out to nearly double its former length, in the hopes that it will be used for weddings and other gatherings.
Toby Brown was hired by the city to be the new event center manager.
Brown retired from the Charlotte Convention Center after opening up the center and working there for 33 years, moving to Goldsboro after he retired.
He said he has family and friends in the area, which inspired him to move to Goldsboro after living in Charlotte for his entire life.
"I've been coming down here for 24 years now to see my family and friends," Brown said. "I'm doing this because I want to see it succeed and see people leave happy."
Brown said he retired because he no longer desired to work 70- and 80-hour weeks like he was working at the Charlotte Convention Center, but did not want to cease working all together.
Until the golf course operations are merged with the event center, the ball room, bar and dining room will all be available for citizens and parties to rent and hold meetings and functions.
Ernest Barsh attended the grand opening of the event center Tuesday night to "see what it was about." Barsh came to meetings and event at the old Goldsboro Country Club, and is looking forward to seeing what the new improvements to the center will allow the space to do.
"It's good," Barsh said. "I hope it'll be an improvement."