Morristown Landing General Manager Steve Eaton told the Morristown Kiwanis Club Friday afternoon that the first full year of operations has been busy.
After 38 years of employment at Walt Disney World in Florida, starting when he was 18 when his father worked there, Eaton came to East Tennessee to operate Rocky Top Sports World in Gatlinburg. Two and a half years, or 16 months, ago, he came to Morristown Landing.
69制片厂制作传媒淚 had no idea what I wanted to do 69制片厂制作传媒 none,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淢y dad was a musician and I tagged along with him. We were in California and moved to Florida. I fell in love with the hospitality industry and being a park investor. I stayed for a long, long time.
For 20 of those years, he was with the Event and Decorating Support team which decorated the park for special events, such as Christmas. If you saw Cinderella69制片厂制作传媒檚 Castle, you would see some of Eaton69制片厂制作传媒檚 handiwork that was installed with a crane.
Disney had a big 69制片厂制作传媒渟afety net,69制片厂制作传媒 according to Eaton.
69制片厂制作传媒淚t was a lot of fun to bring that out of the ground,69制片厂制作传媒 he said.
Fast forward to Friday, Eaton enjoyed getting to speak to Kiwanis.
69制片厂制作传媒淚t69制片厂制作传媒檚 nice to be away from the Landing,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said, referring to a brief respite from a busy life since coming to Morristown.
Eaton showed a video montage of events and people who have come to The Landing in the last year.
69制片厂制作传媒淚 could put 1,000 of those (pictures) up, to be honest,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淣o matter how you slice it, it69制片厂制作传媒檚 all about people. That69制片厂制作传媒檚 how we approach it. The smiling faces are the absolutely most important to us.69制片厂制作传媒
Eaton sees people who have never been to The Landing since it69制片厂制作传媒檚 been open all of the time. It is based on the fitness, aquatics center, gym, climbing space and meeting space.
69制片厂制作传媒淭hose are basically business segments for us used in a whole bunch of different ways,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淭he gym is also meeting space to us.69制片厂制作传媒
Eaton said that the climbing space is used for meetings, birthdays, programs and camps.
69制片厂制作传媒淭hose areas are what The Landing is built around,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淭he Landing has a lot of mine and my team69制片厂制作传媒檚 personality.69制片厂制作传媒
Eaton loves the event business, especially creative programming.
69制片厂制作传媒淭he Landing is far more than a gym,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檙e trying to create unique programming that other folks in Morristown might not have so we can expand what is available.69制片厂制作传媒
When Eaton helped to create Rocky Top Sports World, he got a little more than he bargained for.
69制片厂制作传媒淚t was a completely different model,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淚 would never do that model again. That was a rough one. That is sports tourism. Gatlinburg wanted a little more tourism in the slower months when they weren69制片厂制作传媒檛 busy. It was also an opportunity for me to deal with the community.69制片厂制作传媒
Sports World helped Gatlinburg to deal with the forest fires there several years ago.
69制片厂制作传媒淲hen I69制片厂制作传媒檓 asked about what was the most interesting memory I had up there, it was the fires,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e became the center for the firefighters. Overnight we were a pharmacy, an all-night diner and had 900 beds in our gym. It was a good experience and I learned a lot.69制片厂制作传媒
Sports Facility Management was hired by the Morristown City Council to manage The Landing. The company has properties in Gatlinburg, Hoover, Alabama and a total of 63 venues across the nation. SFM was formed in 2003.The company went from eight venues in 2014 to 63 venues now.
69制片厂制作传媒淚 have a bunch of partners who I can talk to about issues and programming,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淚t69制片厂制作传媒檚 a very large network with a large bit of value.69制片厂制作传媒
Eaton said that many cities are getting into privatized Parks and Recreation programs, leading to facilities such as The Landing and Rocky Top Sports World.
Part of The Landing69制片厂制作传媒檚 clientele are their members.
69制片厂制作传媒淭here have been 130,390 uses by members this year,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檝e had just more than 43,766-day guests. Whether is a meeting, conference or a tournament, attendance for those were 47,706.69制片厂制作传媒
There were 2,071 guests who have used the fitness facilities, 5,754 for the climbing areas, 12,442 for the basketball courts and 21,980 for the aquatics facilities.
Eaton said that he thought around 220,000 people have enjoyed The Landing in the past year.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檙e really happy with that number,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e have a long way to go, but we69制片厂制作传媒檙e happy with it.69制片厂制作传媒
When The Landing first opened, it took it awhile for the complex to get its footing with day pass traffic, requiring a lowering of prices and getting things right for the community.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e69制片厂制作传媒檙e at a really nice place right now,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淭his month we69制片厂制作传媒檙e on a pace to serve 7,000 people.69制片厂制作传媒
Most membership comes from the city of Morristown, with 30% of city residents belonging while 27% of non-residents belong to The Landing.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e are happy with the balance of that number,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said.
The two programs for senior citizens, Silver Sneakers and Silver Fit, attract almost 1,000 members. Almost 600 people are involved from Lakeway Area industries.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e have discounted memberships to companies who have signed up at least 25 members,69制片厂制作传媒 he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淭his is the slowest piece to get started. We have 3,200 memberships and 6,300 members.69制片厂制作传媒
Monthly attendance averages 11,000 members a month, including 900 people to fitness classes and 700 children for a two-hour child watch program.
Eaton said that there have recently been five new fitness classes added to 35-40 classes of programming.
69制片厂制作传媒淎ll of these numbers are steady growth, which is good,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said. 69制片厂制作传媒淔inding good teachers and instructors has been important to us. We won69制片厂制作传媒檛 hire anybody. We want to make sure that they are very personable.69制片厂制作传媒
Morristown Landing69制片厂制作传媒檚 partnership with Covenant Health and HealthStar Physicians provide a weekly 69制片厂制作传媒淟unch and Learn69制片厂制作传媒 series about different health issues attracting as many as 80 people. There are also periodic health fairs at The Landing.
Sports and youth programs have taken time to get established. The first summer, there were come camps which attracted 50 children, but attracted 200 children this year. There will be 28 days of camps during the school year, one camp for each day the students are out.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e think that69制片厂制作传媒檚 a good thing for us,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said.
Different groups have come to The Landing. One week first responders came, along with the police and fire departments. Also, The Landing is trying to build its programming with home schoolers. A big home school volleyball tournament will be played at The Landing in October.
A limited amount of people has even taken advantage of scuba diving classes offered by a Knoxville-area business.
69制片厂制作传媒淔orty people showed up the first day just to learn about it, but we69制片厂制作传媒檝e had six to eight people come every time,69制片厂制作传媒 Eaton said.
Part of Eaton69制片厂制作传媒檚 job is to meet the area manufacturers to get them to take advantage of The Landing69制片厂制作传媒檚 meeting spaces. When Greenworks came to The Landing in January, it was during the snowstorm that brought traffic to a standstill.
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