Although they haven’t met for a few months, members of the Sampson County Exposition Center Advisory Board got a plethora of information and reports of what has been going on at the facility.

Ray Jordan, executive director, told the board the successes — Class Acts-Sampson CenterStage for Students.

“We had a really good week of students here,” said Jordan, noting that over 10,400 students enjoyed five shows (10 performances) during the week of April 14. “It was a busy week, but we had a great showing and we are really proud that we are able to provide these shows for the children, free of charge.”

Founded five years ago, Class Acts-Sampson CenterStage for Students is an arts education initiative administered and supported by the Sampson CenterStage Performing Arts Series, the County of Sampson and scores of individuals, businesses, industries and civic organizations.

Since the creation of Class Acts, tens of thousands of local students have had the opportunity to attend live performing arts productions with no cost. The Class Acts program has gained statewide recognition for its quality programming, introducing many students to the arts for their first time.

The not so good news was that this year’s A Night at the Beach fund-raising event, created for the Class Acts-Sampson CenterStage for Students series, did not sell out again.

The event, that took place in March, is in its sixth year.

“We had The Band of Oz, dinner, the silent and live auctions ... just like we have had before,” said Jordan, “we didn’t sell it out last year, but this year was the least amount of tickets that we have sold.”

In fact, the profit from the event was just under $10,000 ($9,397.84), selling just 271 of the available 460 seats in the facility. However, Jordan noted that the event was on the night of another big event.

“I can assure you, we will never schedule this event during another ACC tournament,” Jordan said. “We planned it and we had three tables (about 30 people) that were not here because of the tournament. It was the lowest amount that we have raised in four years, but to be honest, I thought it turned out real well and the people who were there had a great time.”

Board member Chris Fann tipped his hat to the people who donated items and committee members who volunteered their efforts to making the event a success. “Without those auctions and those items, it is not a success,” he said.

The combined silent and live auctions raised $8,362 alone.

Security issues

Jordan also told the board that he was looking into security issues at the center, since house management has been having trouble with recent parties that have taken place there.

“We have been spending excessive amounts of time cleaning up after these parties,” Jordan said. “Typically, we have a three-person crew that comes in and cleans up afterwards, but in the last few months, we have come in with six people because it is so bad.”

Jordan noted that the contracts are clearly written in English and Spanish and warns prospective renters that if one thing in the building is not as it was rented, they will retain the deposit.

“When we walk through (with the renter), we tell them everything about the building and what we do and don’t allow,” Jordan explained. “If there is a spot on the wall, we note it; if we come back and there is 39 spots on the wall, someone is paying for cleaning that. If you are supposed to be out of here at 12:30 a.m. and you are here at 12:31 a.m., we get the deposit and people understand that, but with some of these events, things are just getting out of hand.”

Jordan said that something had to give with the recent issues.

“It is out of control,” he said. “I recently walked into an event, and literally, I wanted to pull the lights. I mean, if you have to come in the next day and you need four people with you and it still smells like a brewery, there is a problem and it has been pretty bad lately.”

As an example, Jordan specifically noted Quinceanera celebrations, 15th birthday parties for Hispanic girls, as well as some recent weddings.

“What happens is you invite someone, they invite three others, and then those three others invite five others,” said Jordan. “And there is no control over it. There was a recent one where they tried to pass out invitations, but it just didn’t work out. The people were great, but they knew we were gonna keep the deposit because the building was left in such bad shape.”

Although there are at least four to five security officers at each event, Jordan said at one event children were playing soccer in the building’s main hallway.

“If any of you have the time, I will show you the tape of the kids playing soccer there,” Jordan said. “It is just too much. There will be a conversation had with the people who are working these events (security). There has to be some kind of motivation to ensure that they are doing their job, not just sitting around in a corner somewhere in case a fight goes down. There is no reason for it.”

Amazingly, according to Jordan, the money that is being paid out for security officers is more than what is being charged for the building.

“We are really going to have our security people get with the program or have to look for something else,” he said. “It has been pretty rough, but we are focusing on cracking down more.”

For more information click on to www.sampsonexpocenter.com or call 592-7200 for tickets.