The Adventure Pursuit property along the Little Kanawha River near Parkersburg is being eyed as a possible new headquarters for the Parkersburg South and Parkersburg high school crew teams.
The two teams are moving from their shared facility along the Ohio River in Vienna, where they have spent the past 4.5 years.
Vienna property owner Jim Weigle told me he was leasing the Ohio River frontage to a business. Spokesmen for the crew teams said Weigle has been great to work with and they understood his need to lease the property to a business. The teams will share storage space until another boathouse is secured.
It looks as if at least the Parkersburg South High crew team will be moving to the Adventure Pursuit site, possibly by March 1, said Margy Womack, president of the PSHS crew team boosters. Womack is meeting with PHS crew team coaches and boosters to discuss a new location for the rowing programs.
Parkersburg South and PHS crew teams and boosters get along well together and face the same challenge of raising money to support the sport. They share not only headquarters but also equipment and hold fundraisers together. The two teams cheer for each other at regattas.
Bub Fulton, PHS crew coach, said Thursday he was not sure where the team would be relocating to. "It's up in the air. But the team will have a place to row in the spring," Fulton said. Fulton added that he wanted to maintain the close relationship with the South crew program.
Kim Coram was instrumental in starting the nonprofit Adventure Pursuit organization here in 1996 and adding the Little Kanawha River facility two years later. The group, which has not been active recently, is dedicated to making recreational activities accessible to all, including special needs individuals.
Bringing on South and possibly PHS crew teams would breathe life into the Adventure Pursuit program and facility, said Coram, vice president of the AP board. Womack is president of the AP board and other South crew team boosters are on the board.
The Adventure Pursuit property has 600 feet of river and creek frontage, a building and several acres of land.
One of the group's goals is to bring adaptive rowing for those with disabilities to Adventure Pursuit, Womack said.
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Site preparation has begun for Serenity coffee/tea and gift house in the 1800 block of Grand Central Avenue in Vienna next to Dr. Robert Azar's office, said Petia Johnson, business partner with Wazir Sultany in the venture. The two-story, 10,000-square-foot building will open sometime next year, said Johnson of Mineral Wells, who owns Pepi's Cafe/Seattle Coffee in Grand Central Mall. "We have no deadline to finish it," she said. Plans call for the business to have a patio facing Grand Central, a balcony facing the Ohio River and Grand Central, a wine and cheese bar, books, ethnic, meeting and children's rooms, and musical entertainment, Johnson said. "It will be a little flair of Europe in your backyard," promises Johnson, a native of Bulgaria. Sultany owns Divisions Department Store in Parkersburg.
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Parkersburg native Michael Enoch is the new general manager of the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. Enoch, a 1972 graduate of Parkersburg High School, left his home in Henderson, Nevada, Friday to start working in Shanghai on Monday for AEG, concert promotion company. The six-level Mercedes-Benz Arena seats up to 18,000 people for music, cultural, sporting and theatrical events; has The Mixing Room club, which seats 1,000; movie theaters; stores; restaurants and an ice skating rink, according to its website. Enoch has a 35-year career in sports, convention, casino and entertainment businesses, including stints at Amway Center in Orlando, the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand.
Contact Paul LaPann at plapann@newsandsentinel.com
