Time to dust off the Zamboni

Hockey returns to the Bi-Lo Center

FEBRUARY 15, 2010 4:03 p.m. (1)

After a four-year absence, professional ice hockey will be back in the Upstate for the 2010 season under a five-year deal.

The Greenville Arena District Board voted 7-0 Monday night to enter a memorandum of understanding to bring the famed Johnstown Chiefs, which are located close to 600 miles away in Pennsylvania, to the Bi-Lo Center for next season.  Continue reading...

 

Mummy, where art thou?

Greenville’s arts organizations capitalize on popularity of Halloween

OCTOBER 19, 2010 11:00 a.m. (0)

Greenville’s community theaters and dance companies are using Halloween to try to scare up some new patrons and revenue.

“People celebrate Halloween because it’s fun,” said Allan McCalla, artistic director for the Greenville Little Theatre. “All of us trick or treated as kids. And arts organizations are always looking for an angle.”

Americans are expected to spend $447.1 billion on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation. And while Halloween used to be considered primarily a children’s event, it has become the second leading adult party reason behind New Year’s Eve.  Continue reading...

 

Ready, aim, fire

He's a human cannonball, but Brian Miser doesn't mind

FEBRUARY 3, 2011 3:58 p.m. (0)

Brian Miser calls himself an adrenaline junkie.

Maybe that’s why being shot out of a cannon wasn’t quite thrilling enough for him.

Maybe that’s why the human cannonball for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus decided he needed to be set on fire, too.  Continue reading...

 

Why would a mother leave her newborn son in a public restroom?

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 12:35 p.m. (1)

As a student at Bob Jones Academy, Jessie Blackham talked about how much she loved kids. She told stories about her niece and carried pictures of the girl in her wallet.

Now 24, Blackham has been charged with felony child abuse after giving birth to a boy at the Bi-Lo Center last Friday night and leaving him in the toilet.

“I’m shocked that she would do that. She was always very good with children,” said Taryn Habegger, a classmate of Blackham’s throughout elementary and high school who has kept up with her on Facebook. “I’m shocked that anybody would do that.”  Continue reading...

 

$1.4 Million

Thanks to changes big and small, Bi-Lo Center maintains operational profit

JULY 7, 2011 12:17 p.m. (0)

The Bi-Lo Center expects to turn a $1.4 million operational profit in the coming year, the only venue of its kind in the region to do so, officials with the Greenville Arena District told the Journal this week.

According to a survey of 10 regional venues conducted by district staff only Bi-Lo has shown operational profitability, said Roger Newton, president and general manager of the arena district.

In all of the other districts (except Charlotte which didn’t respond to queries) tax money is being used to fund operational expenses, Newton said.  Continue reading...