Time and effort spend on Arena was worth it

I’m not saying I am a pessimist, but I will admit that when the snow started flying last Thursday, I took it as a bad omen for things to come as far as the new Expo Center, but as it turned out, I was completely wrong.

First, as a Montgomery Gentry fan, let me say that the concert was one of the most enjoyable ones I have been to (with exception to the opening act). The group was almost as excited about opening the new arena as some of the local dignitaries that put in countless efforts just to get the place done.

I arrived early, around 6 p.m., so I would miss the traffic jam of getting up the hill, but as it turned out, a lot of other people were thinking like me, which is scary. We (my wife and I) were able to get a pretty good parking spot, so at that point I didn’t have a lot to fuss about.

As I approached the door I was impressed by security, which was scanning each and every person that came in the door with handheld metal detectors. I was not impressed however, by the fact that I had to toss my wife’s umbrella into the trashcan, as opposed to taking it back out to the car in the driving snow, because apparently they are not allowed inside the arena. Needless to say, by the time we left, we could have had our pick of any one of the hundreds of umbrellas flowing out the top of the trashcan, but instead

I decided to take the loss and go on.

As for the Arena itself, I could not have been more pleased with the way things went. There were plenty of police officers on the scene, just in case because we all know these concerts can bring out the best in people.

The Arena staff was always helpful and seemed very happy to be there, which always goes a long way in providing a positive environment for those attending the show.

As I sat there in my seat and looked around, I realized there really isn’t a bad seat in the place, which will bode well for future ticket sales. A lot of times, it seems like there will be a spot or two in an arena that people will say do not sit there, but I don’t think that will be the case here.

The more I looked around, the more I realized how much time and effort had been put into this project and just how much the people of Corbin and the surrounding communities deserve such a building.

For so long, when it came to seeing a quality show such as the ones we will soon be able to see, we were forced to decide whether or not we wanted to travel to Nashville, Knoxville, Lexington or even Cincinnati. Now, people from those cities may just hop on the interstate to come see a particular show that we will be having. Maybe they want to see country icon Alan Jackson, or maybe we have a bunch of Three Doors Down fans or you might be a Gaither fan. Either way, you are going to get to see some acts that we never thought possible for this area.

I guess everything really hit home when the country duo, which announced that it was up for album of the year, broke into their hit song “Something to be proud of”.

If there was ever any truth spoken on that night, it was spoken in that particular song because if you ask me, everyone in this community and anyone that had anything to do with the building and opening of that arena has something to really be proud of.