Bruce Tyler knows there is hard work ahead and is taking a measured approach after closing on the Roanoke Rapids Theatre Tuesday — a venue that will soon bear the name the Weldon Mills Theatre after the distillery he owns in Weldon.
“We’re excited to get started and we’re very happy with the positive response the community has shown,” he said today. “It’s been an overwhelmingly positive response which encourages me for the future of that theater.”
Judging from the social media response, Tyler said, “It appears that the majority of the folks out there just want to see it operate successfully.”
He said while the response makes him happy, it also puts some pressure on him to try and do it differently than others have done it in the past. “We’re really going to try and cater shows and use of that building for the building itself and try to maximize the use of that building.”
Bidding on the theater
The Roanoke Rapids law firm of Wellman & White on behalf of Tyler placed a $2 million bid on the venue and a resolution passed by the city council last week paved the way for the sale of the venue.
What prompted him to make an offer on the venue, he said, was, “That theater can be a valuable asset to the community. It can bring in a lot of tourism and it can bring in a lot of revenue for shop owners, for hotels, businesses and the surrounding area if it’s used properly.”
He said, however, “I’m not saying I have the magic solution for it, but I just couldn’t sit back and see it not being used. I feel like with the open arms this community has shown Weldon Mills Distillery, I feel like if we have an opportunity to try and acquire that property and turn it around for the good of the community that we should take it. I might be crazy but I feel like we should give it a shot.”
While the specter of potential action from Victor Freeman of The Victor Enterprises could loom after he failed to submit a bid but did submit a deposit check, Tyler, who is an attorney, said, “You can’t ever stop someone from seeking redress for what they perceive as a wrong. I feel like the city council tried to do the right thing all along. There may have been some missteps along the way but it seems as if they corrected those missteps and took extra time to do it right.”
He said he feels like the law is “pretty clear as to what must be submitted as a bid for an upset bid and Victor’s bid just didn’t meet the requirements by law. I’m not saying he doesn’t have redress — I’m just saying that’s why we have a court system, that’s why we have a justice system to ensure.”
Tyler said as an attorney he spent a career trying to come to the right conclusion for justice. “Sometimes one side feels a certain way, sometimes the other side feels the opposite way and a lot of times neither side is happy at the end but justice is served. If Victor feels he has been wronged then to me it doesn’t hurt my feelings for him to redress it in the system I spent a part of for so many years.”
Work to do
There is deferred maintenance that is needed at the venue, he said, maintenance which totals around $1.5 million. “There’s also some rebranding and permitting and getting that building ready to represent our brand. That takes some time.”
He said his plan is simple — “To put the right level talent in that theater and try to maximize its use. It’s not an easy challenge. Hopefully we can book the right talent to get folks locally and within a 50-mile radius coming to the shows. I would hope that radius would be further. If we can pull from Richmond, if we can pull from Raleigh, if we can pull from the coast I think we can be successful in it.”
He said, however, “We’ve got to put the right mix of entertainment in that facility and we also have to use it for other events outside of entertainment. We’ve got to maximize the use of that facility.”
BarnBurner Productions has already begun work on procuring acts for the venue. “BarnBurner has got the right connections to get this theater rolling. This is going to take a community effort. This is not a small task. We have got to consult with all of the experts in the community to properly run that facility.”
Those experts include people in the community who have created successful businesses. “There's a talent pool locally that has knowledge that might not necessarily be for entertainment but in their fields they’re top-notch. We need to think outside the box on this thing. We need advice and consulting from all of the talent in the area — those who are willing to help us and we also need expertise in the entertainment field and that’s where BarnBurner comes in because BarnBurner has many contacts in Nashville and in the entertainment industry — experts that can come in help us do this thing the right way.”
Designed for a different purpose
The theater, Tyler said, was built for a different purpose. “It was not designed to be successful in a rural area. It was designed to have ancillary attractions that drew people from a wider geographical area and it was also designed to trade off of the Parton name, essentially having a smaller version of Dollywood and the Grand Ole' Opry out here in the east.”
He said the principles involved in the venue have to look at every option available to leverage the facility in its current form to be successful.
That doesn’t mean there will be a renewed push for development around the theater like was planned in the days when it was the Randy Parton Theatre. “I’m specifically looking at that facility. How do we maximize that facility because we don’t have the Partons? We have a community base that obviously supports us and will support us, but we need a draw to widen that geographic area of support. We have to be precise in everything we do at this facility. I’m not interested in anything but maximizing that facility to its fullest potential and if we maximize that potential we can be successful.
“It’s not going to be something that is going to make us the richest people in the world, but it can be sustainable and that’s what we’re looking at is creating a sustainable theater that constantly brings in tourism and a flow and a stream of revenue into the community.”
When the theater was first constructed, Tyler said, the bulk of the funding to construct it went towards the infrastructure in the land surrounding the facility — not the theater itself. “The anticipation was that that land would be used in a manner to augment and bolster the tourist traffic coming to that area. It never happened and I don’t believe that should be counted on. You’ve got to work with what you’ve got.”
When Weldon Mills Distillery first started, he said many people had the same expectations with that facility and the surrounding area that they had in the past with the theater. “We’ve been doing this for four years now. There’s been great things that have happened in the community, but nothing is going to happen overnight. There’s no magic solution to, ‘oh, this is available, and now we can sell this property and make a bunch of money on it.’ What it takes is years and years of hard work and proof that something can be successful. Then down the road, if it is in fact successful, that will attract other things. I just don’t see it as, ‘oh, this is happening so people are going to invest millions and millions of dollars to develop the surrounding area.’”
Said Tyler: “I feel as if we are fortunate enough to do what no one else has done. That’s the elephant in the room. To be able to do what no one else has done with the theater then perhaps there’s a shot at something more.”
The Weldon Mills brand
As far as what theater ownership will do for the Weldon Mills Distillery brand, Tyler prefaced his comments by saying, “We fought through a lot. We released our first product in 2020 right in the middle of COVID. We fought and we fought and we fought and we have an amazing team here led by our master distiller Mike Norman. It’s all attributable to the team — that hard work.”
What he hopes to do at the theater is to build a team that can make the venue successful and in turn promote the Weldon Mills Distillery brand. “That will be an extension of our brand and if we’re successful at it it would be a very good thing for our brand. That is one of the goals.”
There were 50,000 people who came to the distillery last year, Tyler said. “If we run that theater properly we can bring in a lot more and those folks are all going to want to have something to do … the more things we can offer to people outside of the local area, the larger that tourism and geographical base for that tourism will grow.”
He sees the theater as one of those attractions that can bring people in, keep them here and give them something to do.
Not a cheap adventure
Tyler said the entertainment business requires a lot of investment and promotion to draw people in. “We can’t take someone who costs a million dollars per show and charge what we have to charge because we only have 1,500 seats. We have to invest a lot of money in it. I’m always looking for help because this is not going to be a cheap adventure. My partner and I don’t have endless pockets. We’re exploring all avenues to try and make that successful because we’re not going to let pride get in the way of what must be done.”
He said it will be important to have a wide range of musical options at the venue. “If you’re not offering something for everyone you’re making a mistake. I would love to see kid shows out there — that can be done here. If my family’s willing to drive from Rocky Mount to Raleigh to go see one of those shows I feel like that has to be the same in reverse. I just think we need to do what hasn’t been done out there and find a way to appeal to everyone.”
There is much work to be done before there is an event at the theater. “We don’t want to be another failed chapter in the history of that theater. I have no pride. I will ask anybody and everybody for help because it’s going to take a village.”
A great opportunity
Tyler said he can’t accept the notion there is no chance for success at the venue. “I can’t say that that beautiful facility should sit empty because there’s no chance for success. That building is a great opportunity to bring a lot of revenue and tourism to the area. We can’t just let it sit there … Seeing that building unused is tough on the local community because they have invested so much in it and we’re going to try and figure out a way for it to start paying back to the community.”
He feels the council’s intent on the theater was in the right place. “And at the end of the day we got to the right conclusion based on the law. I believe the city of Roanoke Rapids wants that place to be successful because this area needs more things, more attractions, more jobs — more things for the youth to stop moving away and choose to come back. We are losing a lot of talent in this area to youth going off to college and not returning home.
“If we could keep those younger individuals coming back and give them a reason to come back, it will help this area tremendously.”
Tyler sees this as a community effort — both in Weldon and in Roanoke Rapids. “We have great natural attractions but those just aren’t enough to keep folks here. We’ve got to give them jobs, we’ve got to give them entertainment, great dining. A lot of folks are doing that. I think this is one more piece and I think the city sees that and I think they’ll be helpful in that endeavor. I look forward to working with them more on this.”
Throughout his time here, he said he hears the phrase working together works bandied about. “I believe that. I have partnered with the town of Weldon throughout my entire process here and I intend to do the same thing with the city of Roanoke Rapids because that’s the right thing to do. We are all in this together. We all share the responsibility and the only way to make it work is through a team effort.”
