Interactions + Attractions
MEGA Entertainment: Redefining Experiences in Richmond County
(upbeat music) - Welcome back to Interactions and Attractions. I'm your guest host, Jennifer Everett, founder of Culture Queens Outdoors, certified graduate of the Uplift Incubator Program, and now project specialist for Uplift North Carolina. Today I'm here with Derek Crawford, who is the owner and general manager of Megapark. He's a community advocate, world traveler, and my classmates from the inaugural incubator class. Okay, Derek, let's talk about Megapark and how it's going to impact Richmond County. First things first, tell us about Megapark. - Well, Megapark is basically in the name itself. It stands for Millennial Experience Gaming Adventure Park. And what we have right now are virtual reality machines in which the families can come and have food, fun, family, entertainment and community all in the same place. - So it sounds like Megapark is now the place to be for everybody in Richmond County and those coming traveling from afar. How did you get to this place to where Megapark is one and inclusive community that is for family? - Well, it basically started my mom was a cruise agent and I've always wanted to have one of my travels with her. I've seen where people would have fun, and with the new experiences and those type of things. So the idea was to bring the experience of travel abroad and other experiences to Richmond County. Things that you don't see any other place until you go to the city, New York or wherever it may be Raleigh, Charlotte, those type of places and have it in a small rural town where we can again have food, family, friends, entertainment and community. - And community is one of your keywords. How do you create an inclusive community here at Megapark and in Hamlet, North Carolina? - Well, Hamlet like all places are a plethora of different races, sexes and people from all over the world. So the idea was to have them to be able to enjoy the same things here in a small community. You may find something like art or games, whatever it may be, right here in a rural community, something you would not have otherwise unless you went to a city or another country. - I love that. I love that you are creating an inclusive community and you're bringing something that's not here. I know when you said this is a virtual reality game room, give us an example of what it means to travel like the virtual reality experience. What does that look like? - Okay, so we have virtual reality. Most people know it as for rollercoaster ride. However, we have various games on it. One includes a trip where you explore El Salvador Dali's paintings, it's like a flight, a virtual flight and you'll go travel and see the various paintings that he may have. We also have one where it flies over various cities including Dubai and just various cities all over the world. And so it's not just for fun and games, it's for education as well. While you're having fun. - Oh, that's beautiful. 'Cause so you're telling me that I can walk into Mega Park and purchase some tokens and select the game that will take me to Dubai and I get an immediate escape like for five minutes. - Exactly. You can go and you have a college to call the world tour. So you go all over the world and see the various cities throughout the world. - That's beautiful. The theme here is interactions and attractions. So through your virtual reality world, you're already giving people the opportunity to go and see different cities, world tours and attractions. What is that like and what does that look like for you when it comes to Richmond County's tourism in our future here? - Well, the idea is actually to create a destination where people can come from all over the United States to here and experience something different. And it's not just limited to the people. We've had people who are mentally and physically impaired who would otherwise not be able to ride a roller coaster at Carol Wenz or Disney and whatnot. We had a double amputee, people who paralyzed, kids with autism and they have the same experience that they could have or at least close as you can get on a virtual reality ride here as they could at Disney or Carol Wenz. - Okay, so that's important because there are, like you said, a lot of people that have mobility challenges that can't enjoy these experiences. So what you've done is again tapped into making this an inclusive experience for everyone. You were talking about this being a destination place for Richmond County. What support do you think you need in order to accomplish this? - Oh, man. Well, beneath support, you know, financially, of course, that's with any institution, whether it be for profit or nonprofit, you need the community to come out and support to show that they are enjoying or there's a need for such activities to enjoy in their local communities, in the small communities. We've had people who have come to from surrounding County, Scotland County, Anson County, even More County, to say, "Hey, man, I'm so glad you have this place here "because it has saved me a trip "from having to go into the city another 30 miles away "or an hour away where you can have the same fun "as we do here." - That's very important. So that takes me into the interactions part of this and let's talk about how we actually met through the incubator program. Tell me the significance of working with Uplift and what that's done for you and your business. - Yes, Uplift has been a boost in the business in the mega part. It's, first of all, it's inspirational, but it's provided a better understanding of the small-town business and tourism outside of my other occupation that I have. They've helped me develop a business plan, strategies to overcome the hardships in the rural areas. And most of all, they provided me with the tools to help with the resources, growth, and forging partnerships, of course. That's how we forged our partnership with Uplift. And I don't think we probably may have gotten to know each other to that extent to where we would have forged the partnership, but for Uplift. That's what we were partners in the Uplift program where you can have a partner to go along and to be with you while you're doing the business plans and the different exercises they take you through. - Right, and I think the beauty of the incubator program was being able to create, for us, we became study buddies. - That's great. - It helped us when it was time to work through the planning of the businesses and thinking outside of the box to create experiences that people would love. You mentioned key partnerships and overcoming some challenges with making those key partnerships. We're here in Richmond County. Tell me a couple of partnerships that have been beneficial for you, partnerships that you're looking forward to, any other interactions that you need. We have one called the ARK experience, which is a non-profit, and there in the ARK experience stands for ARK resources and kingdom experience. It's actually an educational, it sounds religious, but it's educational a non-profit where they actually have the ARK of the Covenant, a replica of the ARK of the Covenant being the cashew wood and pure gold. And part of what they'll do is to, along with the culture queens, the sponsor ARK shows, have resources, other individuals or non-profits, I would say, who have resources to assist with whatever we're doing on that particular occasion. It could be kids with autism coming in, or whatever it may be, and working closely with other non-profits. - Like yourself. - We're honored to be a part of it, because when we heard your vision, when I heard your vision, I knew that it was something I wanted to be a part of and how we could connect, not just creating opportunities for women of color, but again, we're crossing the barriers and being inclusive. Parents are coming out, women, men, children. And again, there are people that are interested in the virtual reality world, they're interested in arts and culture. There's so much more to come from you. What does the future look like for you right now? What's the next for you? - One thing I did want to mention, just like with sharing resources, like on our grand opening, you hosted the events and whatnot and got everything together, along with other staff members and members of Mega Park, and helped with the hosting of that. And you also do a lot of the events that we have. We just had our first event on Saturday in which you made that connection. And so we have just big ideas that we helped to bring to Hamlet and the Richmond County area, including expanding. We've forged partnerships with the city of Hamlet and the town of Dobbins Heights, where we collaborate with them on various workshops or whatever it may be, those mayors and town council members. And we also have a larger vision in that we wish to open a theme park by the name of Mega Park on a mega basis, where we have many more machines, more people who are nonprofits, restaurants, petting zoos and the like, to come out and make it a destination, where we're right off I-73, I-74, and people can stop on their way to the beach or whatever travels they may encounter and stop at Mega Park and see all we have to offer. - I love it. And your location for the future, right off 73-74 gives everybody easy access. And if I'm not mistaken, the area that you want to be in will encompass the food with the restaurants and it will create an experience where families can come together. You mentioned the party, and thank you again for the accolades. I love planning and producing events. And I'm excited, I was very happy to hear that the birthday party Saturday went well. One of the things that became a very common factor was although it was a party for their child, the adults had just as much fun, if not more, and that's the beauty of what you have here. You've created an attraction for people to see it now. They'll be able to come in, experience it now, and then when you take it and make it a true Mega experience, even bigger and better, they'll have an idea of what that looks like. - And just like you're saying, people like yourself is the idea is to take people who have, everyone has it's gotta give everybody a talent and to take those talents and utilize them and help and bring up the other person whether they're weak or have a lack of that talent in whatever it is that they have and to uplift everyone, that's the idea. - And that's what we're doing. We're cultivating and we're creating a community. We're giving people the opportunity to share their gifts and talents, to put them on display. We're almost done actually. We have, I have two more questions. One will be how can visitors contact you because everybody needs to, I call it the Mega experience. Everybody needs to have the Mega experience. - Well, they can contact us at Mega Park, we're online at megaparkusa.com and I need to get the other information at 705 West Hamlet Avenue. And that's where we can be contacted. - All right, 705 West Hamlet Avenue and Hamlet, North Carolina. So this is, again, this is interactions and attractions. And I feel like this is a trick question because I know your favorite place to be your favorite attraction is Mega Park. But outside of Mega Park, what is your one favorite attraction in North Carolina? And you can't say Mega Park. - Okay, other than Mega Park, I would say it's a place called Palace Point in Roxborough, North Carolina. And they have a, I believe they have a similar idea. They have a movie theater, they have games, they have racing, go-karts, I believe, at least they were. And they've shown us, we've been to their facilities. Matter of fact, I met them at one of the seminars that we go to yearly in IAPA seminar and they've invited us to come to their facility, showed us the facility in Roxborough, similar to Hamlet, North Carolina. You don't really have a whole lot within like a 20 to 30 mile radius, but it is an attraction where people can come do the same thing, like friends, family, fun and food. And it's a great place for that. It's one thing to have the children and/or does to have an experience on their own, but it's a real experience when you have it where families can experience it together. And that's what we have here at Megapart. We've had people who, they say that they can't get the children out of the house because they just stay in and watch TV or play video games or stay on the phone. And they'll surprise the children, bring them here to Megapart and the children have such a great time that they, we want to come back with their families and the parents are just overwhelmed by what they see in the joy and getting them out and just being with the children. You know, the way it used to be. - And that's the testament in itself. So you're doing major work. Your mission was to create a space for families to come and enjoy in a safe environment, enjoy spending time together. You've done that. You've created a space where if they want to come in and have their own private events or celebrate a birthday, you've done that. So we, you're checking off the things on your mission board, on your vision board. I want to say thank you so much for all that you're doing. Thank you for having the vision and following that vision. A lot of people have big dreams and they have big ideas, but they're scared to move on them. But you move with such faith in the people and your vision and that's something that we don't take lightly. Anybody else that you want to mention and say hello to give them a special recognition just to say, thank you for being a part of our journey. Whenever you start naming names, you always forget somebody and it's the worst thing to do. But my mother, Sadie Crawford, Carles, Tarot Crawford, my brother, a wheel car is some of my staff, Zeta, Karina, Kayla, and NIE. It's just so many of those are most of our staff, James. We have so many people who have helped. Mr. Yader has helped with construction. We've had so many people who have been contributing and volunteering, Randall. I mean, it's just so many names that I can name. People who have dedicated their time to helping move this along, Gerard, just so many. And I also just want to mention that we also have the educational part of it as well. And because part of it is to educate, have internships and that type of thing and educational programs to help people progress in their everyday lives as well. - I love it. And I forgot to ask you about that. The educational component and how you're gonna start the mentoring internships with broadcasting and internships with the STEM programs. Any other things that you're gonna be-- - Matter of fact, Rodney, I wanted to mention him because he's already doing an internship with us with the program. He's our IT guy and he's helping us with the virtual reality machines. And meanwhile, getting a education with the virtual reality as far as with the IT and those two combined. But yeah, that's pretty much it. - So, Mr. Crawford, you are a man with many titles, but you're also a man with many gifts and a heart to help everybody. I thank you so much for your time today for this Interactions and Attractions podcast interview. I've enjoyed talking to you. I look forward to working with you even more. And thank you so much for your time today that you shared with Uplift. - Okay, and I also wanna thank Lily, who was Uplift? - We wanna get Lily, Lily's our favorite person. - Lily's our favorite person. I mean, we like it. Yeah, Lily has been with us from the beginning, from the first email to the last email. Lily has been there. So for future businesses, and this is not part, I didn't even write this down, but I will say, and I feel like Derek will agree. If you are interested in starting or thinking about starting a business or you already have a business and you need support, the next time Uplift does their incubator program, you should definitely look into it. It is an amazing resource and it's for us to utilize and when I tell you that they are the most supportive group of people, they are. They cover everything from like Derek mentioned before, business plans, to funding, to marketing and branding. Everybody there is amazing. So if you're listening, make sure to be on the lookout for the Uplift incubator program. - They'll also give you individual time. - Yes, the one-on-one, the various best ones. - Yep, that's right, amazing program. - So in that, we will close out our interview. And again, thank you so much, Derek, for your time. I look forward to all that you're gonna be doing for anyone who would like to follow Megapark. You can find them on Facebook. You can find them on Instagram. - Yes, everyone can contact us at megaparkusa.com and also at info@megaparkusa.com. And the phone number is 910-557-1210. - Thank you. (upbeat music) - That's all we have today on Interactions and Attractions. Thank you all for joining us. Stay tuned every Monday and Friday for new releases and be sure to stay updated on what Uplift is doing through our social media. The Uplift program is funded under award 047907689 from the Economic Development Administration U.S. Department of Commerce. The Conversations, Insights, and Recommendations are those of the podcast production team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (gentle music)