HANK DEWALD, HERALD STAFF WRITER

Hank Dewald | Daily Herald Roanoke Rapids Mayor Drewery Beale helps visitors off tour buses in front of The Randy Parton Theatre Wednesday. Advertisement

ROANOKE RAPIDS - Before the Valley's tourism and business leaders had even finished their presentation to some of the most influential representatives from the group travel industry, tour buses were pulling up to the front of The Randy Parton Theatre for Wednesday's matinee.

There to greet them was Roanoke Rapids Mayor Drewery Beale, extending a helping hand for elderly visitors as they climbed from the buses.

Theater staff held doors open and told the visitors to grab a bag and help themselves to the information and goodies local business people had laid out for a presentation to representatives from the group travel industry. The newest arrivals were an hour early for the show, which was the afternoon matinee scheduled at the theater. And although not part of the travel industry gathering, the tour bus visitors are exactly what the theater hopes to attract in big numbers in the future.

The lobby of the theater soon filled to capacity, as bus after bus pulled up in front, unloading excited visitors. Booth operators and even Randy Parton seemed to watch wide-eyed as the crowd streamed through the doors. The crowd began to rival that of opening night at the theater, when locals bought out the house tickets.

“A friend of ours comes down here to visit a local chiropractor here and saw the show. He told us about it. We're really excited to see it. We're with a group from Grace United Methodist Church,” said Vivian Consa, a visitor from Wilson, Va.

Theater gift shop operator Betty Willis had little time to talk between ringing up purchases, but managed to say, “It's going great; fine as frog's hair and that's mighty fine!”

High above the lobby, new theater Co-Manager John Morgan was also thrilled with the early crowd.

“Once the rest of the infrastructure gets built around here, this place is going to explode,” said Morgan. “It's going to be ‘Katie, bar the door.' When that (Carolina Crossroads) takes off, this is what the lobby will look like every day.”

The theater's national marketing director, Janis O'Neill was not surprised, saying, “This is the very reason we scheduled this presentation. These are the people we're going after.”

Charles Upchurch, the theater's new public relations director, agreed with O'Neill. “We're thinking on a regional scale, working up and down (Interstate) 95 ... I only saw a handful of seats left during the show, so it was just short of a sellout.”