Board talks ag center branding
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 2, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Cnvention Center director James Wade Jr. discusses the new branding of the facility
The Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center is a mouthful.
And one of the first challenges that faced center director James Wade Jr. was to come up with a simplified way to refer to the facility.
Tuesday morning Wayne County commissioners approved the branding name, Maxwell Center, and several other recommendations from Wade.
"From the first day that I got here, the challenge that I had with it is that there were folks saying things like, 'Oh, you are the guy with the new event center. You are the guy with the new ag center, the guy with the new convention center,'" Wade said. "They don't use the name because it is so long."
Wade said the county wanted to ensure that it controlled the branding of the building, and in order to do so a committee was formed to address a logo and tagline for the center.
The committee settled on a logo using the Maxwell Center instead of the longer, full name. It was designed by Jose Perez in the county's IT department.
The media, the public and city and county officials are being asked to refer to the facility as the Maxwell Center, Wade said.
"We have had meetings with the Maxwell family to make sure they are all right with this," Wade said. "They are very OK with this."
The Maxwell family owns Goldsboro Milling Co. that gave $750,000 to secure naming rights in February 2016.
"Our tag line is 'Take it to the Max,'" Wade said. "So that is the line that we will use in advertising and in trying to bring different groups and associations and folks here to have their meetings."
As of Tuesday, the facility is 68 percent complete and remains scheduled to open March 1, 2018.
The $20 million project is being constructed by T.A. Loving Construction Co.
"They are on schedule, maybe even slightly ahead of schedule which is nice because we will be able to get into the building and move in all the tables, chairs and things that we need to move into the building before we actually start having our events," Wade said.
The board approved Wade's request to begin the process of hiring a marketing director who would be responsible for bookings at the Maxwell Center.
Wade said he hopes to have someone hired soon so that they could possibly start booking the building near the end of September.
Electrical systems were switched on this week, and the HVAC system will be turned on this week and tested, too, he said.
If it works, air conditioning will be turned on in the administrative wing so that workers can start doing the finishes on the walls and doing the rough-ins, Wade said.
Commissioners also agreed for Wade to compile a list of approved caterers.
The building does not have a full kitchen, and there will not be chef in the building.
That means people who have events at the center would use a caterer. As such the center needs an approved caterer list, Wade said.
Caterers would apply to be included on the list and would supply information including a business license, health certificate and references.
The board also approved some changes in a courtyard area.
"You have asked me to use the building in as many ways as we can," Wade said. "One of the ways that we will use that building is to have outdoor events on that courtyard area. It might be a wedding. It might be a reception. It might be a cookout or whatever.
"Right now there is a landscaping area right dead center. I am asking that we take out the landscaping and replace it with pavers and have movable planters so that we could still get some greenery and flowers. It will make the area a whole lot more flexible so that we can use it for different things."
The board also approved the design for a digital marquee sign.