Looking to fill the RRC with more events
By Betsy Ryan
Farmer Staff Writer
The Watford City City Council gave the thumbs up to the Rough Rider Center (RRC) to hire two new event coordinators and approved the RRC’s request for up to $300,000 to draw from to bring in big events.
Approved and designed at the height of the oil boom, the Rough Rider Center has experienced some growing pains since its opening in the fall of 2016. The building that couldn’t quite figure out what it was, an event center or a rec center, has taken some time to get its legs under it.
Now, two-and-a-half years in, the Rough Rider Center is experiencing a wave of energy initiated by the hiring of Terry Moe as the Director of Public Relations and Marketing at the beginning of the year. The team of event and parks and recreation staff have spent the last few months coming up with new ideas to infuse the building with traffic and, ultimately, bring revenue to the city.
To really get those ideas running, though, they need money.
“We built this beautiful thing but didn’t quite understand what it took to operate and what the true potential of the place was,” said City Councilman Kenny Liebel. “In the last two months though, since Moe’s arrival and the decision to make a push at the Rough Rider Center, we are already seeing a payoff.”
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