Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/17716
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Kirkpatrick editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Marybeth Leiby Marybeth@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Suzy Patterson suzy@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Griffi ths, Beth Solzsmon-Carpenter –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a “Quality of Life” publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what’s happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per per- son. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. INSIDE PUBLISHER’S PEN by LIZ VARNEDOE There are always two sides to every story and we here at Up & Coming Weekly have for 15 years established ourselves as the source you can trust to tell the “other” side of the story. The Crown Coliseum has been taking some ugly hits in the media recently when actually it is a valuable and much needed entertainment and event resource for our community. Granted, it has its challenges but, for the most part, it has proven to be a wonderful asset for Fayetteville and Cumberland County residents. Here is a view from the inside. Enjoy. - Bill Bowman With recent conversations around our community about the Cumberland County Crown Center, I wanted to take an opportunity to share some of the good things that are going on at the Crown Center. This past fi scal year was an exceptional one for the Crown Center with noteworthy savings for taxpayers as well as a signifi cant positive economic impact for our community. This was done by fi scally managing expenses and creatively increasing revenue by adding to our inventory of rentable production gear and other equipment. Additional initiatives implemented by Crown Center management include: • In-house repairs/maintenance vs. outsourced services for substantial savings during the past fi scal year. • Continuous customer-service training of all persons who work in the complex to improve the fan/guest experience. • Actively seeking events geared toward and hosted by local members of our community including arts, education, military and sports-related events. • Contracting with an entertainment industry-related coalition to increase entertainment options. Drawing events to Fayetteville/Cumberland County is a continuing goal of all staff at the Crown Center. A large number of events at the Crown Center are not always published. The Crown Center hosted 316 event days in our complex and welcomed more than half a million visitors last year. Part of the challenge in bringing fi rst-class entertainment to Fayetteville is recognizing what the market can tolerate as it relates to ticket prices. The reputation of the Crown Center within the entertainment industry is such that most any artist would play in Fayetteville. The question becomes can the citizens afford the tickets. Finding acts to play here with an average ticket price of no more than $45 is a challenge in itself. This becomes increasingly diffi cult when you consider the ongoing downturn in Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast October 15 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Friday Thursday October 14 Saturday October 16 High 75° Low 54° Showers 4 UCW OCTOBER 13-19, 2010 High 78° Low 51° Partly Cloudy High 75° Low 49° Sunny our economy. Our local sports teams help provide a professional experience in athletics that our citizens would normally have to travel more than an hour to see. We have enjoyed having arena football at our facility for the last several years, and hope to see the sport return next year. Likewise for hockey, our hometown team produces a quality event that rivals more experienced leagues. Although the current rent of $3,750 per game does not cover all out-of-pocket expenses such as staffi ng, utilities and general repair work, we feel that our community benefi ts from the quality-of-life aspect of having professional hockey in Fayetteville. Recent reports regarding a request for on-premise offi ce space by the FireAntz have not contained a true picture of the situation. While the Crown Center continues to provide appropriate space for players, coaches and equipment, the challenge is simply a lack of existing offi ce space for the team’s front offi ce personnel. From 2006-2010, the Crown Center reduced the team’s rent by $1,000 per game, with 28 games per season, in order to subsidize rental fees for offi ce space. This same rent reduction will continue throughout the next three-year term to fi nancially assist the team with off-site administrative offi ce space. We are looking forward to an exciting upcoming season and hope to increase the number of events provided to the citizens of the county as well as the surrounding areas. The staff has and will continue to actively seek events that cater to the diverse needs and desires of our community, and will look for new partnerships and alliances that will aid in bringing promoters and events to the area. Recent renovations and additions have made it possible for us to secure a regional high school basketball tournament for the next four years. These types of infrastructure improvements will make it easier to lure and retain local and national promoters looking to bring entertainment to Fayetteville/Cumberland County. We invite your continued support and constructive criticism in helping us bring great entertainment to the area. We look forward to more good things happening at your Crown Center. LIZ VARNEDOE, Chair, Civic Center Commission. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Call 910.354.1679 October 17 Call 910.354.1679 Sunday Monday October 18 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. High 76° Low 51° Sunny High 77º Low 52º Mostly Sunny Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 16 Concert Connection ........................ 22 TV ..................................................... 24 Movie Review ..................................24 Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 26 News of the Weird ........................... 27 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 27 Classifieds ........................................ 28 Games .............................................. 31 Dining Guide .................................... 32 Good Things Are Happening at the Crown Tuesday October 19 High 78º Low 55 Sunny WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 24 24 / 7