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Entering 10th year, Horse Park officials bullish for future |
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Friday, 26 December 2008 |
 Submitted photos/SDN Events like Motocross competitions and the Speedfest barrel racing competition have made the Mississippi Horse Park a top venue for event promoters in it’s almost 10-year history. As the facility enters its 10th year, officials hope to see its continued expansion. By PAUL SIMS
Starkville Daily News
The Mississippi Horse Park enters its 10th year of business with park officials hoping to expand the facility within two years to handle larger events.
As 2008 ends, officials find themselves in a transitional phase as they look to move forward in the future.
“Many of our annual sell-out events have pushed the facility to its limits as the need for further expansion presents itself each year. We are constantly turning anxious promoters away because we cannot accommodate any bigger events until we have at least 500 stalls and finish our covered arena,” said Bricklee Miller, facility manager.
Officials plan to meet these demands by expanding the facility by 2011, which will allow the park to host the Regional 4H Horse Show which will return to Mississippi.
This will not only be of benefit to the park and the community, it will also place 1,000 potential college students on campus for a week, Miller said.
“With the continued support and dedication of the community, we hope to turn our dreams into a reality,” she said.
Since officials initially started noting the park’s economic impact, the number has grown from $932,224 in 2002 to $3.2 million this year. Attendance numbers have grown as well. Miller reports that 33,000 people entered the park’s gates in 2008, surpassing Starkville’s current population by 10,000.
Attendees are not just local, she said. The average contestant drives 693 miles roundtrip to take part in events at the park.
The beginnings
Miller reflected on the park’s beginnings and its growth.
The park opened as the MSU AgriCenter in 1999 – what she describes as a unique partnership between Mississippi State University, the City of Starkville and Oktibbeha County. The facility originally was made up of the main agricenter, three barns and the five-eighths of a mile all-weather track.
“To stimulate initial activity at the facility, we held as many events as possible. Although they were entertaining, most events only lasted one day and did not draw in the crowds they had the potential of doing. We quickly began to realize that only having one-day events did not produce the economic numbers we were striving for. We began to re-evaluate our approach and goals ... to help this facility boom,” Miller said.
One of park officials’ initial steps was a name change. The switch to Mississippi Horse Park was intended to “distinguish that we not only were an agricenter but we could also accommodate other needs as well,” Miller said.
Park officials “strategically implemented our plan by building relationships with key promoters that we knew were capable of producing over-the-top events,” she said. “Our focus was bringing family-friendly events close to home for the whole community to enjoy.”
The plan succeeded
As promoters brought events to the park,” we quickly saw the success of our plan and watched the Horse Park flourish before our eyes. We watched our events change from one-day activities to multi-day extravaganzas,” Miller said.
The events not only offered entertainment, they drew thousands of attendees.
As events grew, officials found a need to expand. The first two projects were to put in place the covered arena and develop RV parks. “These amenities allowed us to draw in other various events that before we had to turn down,” she said.
The park averages 40 diverse events annually and supports 16 hours of weekly classes and labs offered through MSU.
Many factors contribute to the facility’s success, Miller said. “The events are appealing to all ages and encourage a fun family weekend right here in town. With the immense crowds drawn these events, the Horse Park continues to be an economic stimulus to the community each year,” she said.
The facility has drawn local and national media attention. Plus, “we have been featured on national television and have had live feeds on the Internet for those across the world to view our events,” Miller said.
Additionally, in July of this year, the park was one of six facilities featured in the Fabulous Facilities section of Barrel Horse News.
Officials already have 13 events scheduled for the start of 2009. Officials expressed pride in the 30 percent growth of new business for the first six months of 2009. Miller asks people to stay up-to-date with the calendar of events posted on the park’s revamped Web site, http://www.mshorsepark.com/.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 27 December 2008 )
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