Entertainment venues have helped bring visitors to Cape over last decade, officials say

Cape Girardeau’s entertainment scene has come a long way.

The city over the last decade-plus has added venues and events to a once very sleepy city. Once ridiculed by residents there was nothing to do, the city now has many more options for entertainment and activity.

Jay Knudtson said during the early years of his term as Cape Girardeau mayor, from 2002 to 2010, he was focused on the River Campus allowing Cape Girardeau to redevelop an area of town that was “in dire need of support.”

Since that time in 2007, when Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus opened near the riverfront, the city has added several entertainment venues. Among them:

Madison Jackson portrays Mother Superior on Thursday during a performance of "Sister Act" at the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

From left, Mandy McLaughlin wins in a waterslide race against Jessica Crawford, 11, and Zoe McLaughlin, 11, on June 18 at Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

• casino
• water park
• children’s museum
• petting zoo
• newly opened entertainment venue, Dogwood Social House
• trampoline park
• escape-room business
• several more festivals
• downtown farmers market
• sports complex
• minor league baseball team
• playland at the mall
• new park amenities

For Knudtson, it all points back to the River Campus.

“The River Campus has become a real jewel for the City of Cape Girardeau,” he said. “Not only in terms of from a university standpoint and an increased enrollment we’ve had at the university, but from an entertainment offering.”

City leaders have focused on tourism as a strategy for growth. City manager Scott Meyer has said attracting people from outside the city has prevented major losses in sales tax revenue, as more people opt to shop online than in stores. But people who visit the city for entertainment or events will shop while they’re here. The city has been able to maintain a flat revenue base from sales tax.

Rhonda Weller-Stilson, dean of Southeast’s school of visual and performing arts, has been involved with the River Campus since 2007.

She has seen growth in the areas of the performing arts, which has created a need for more shows and larger shows, Weller-Stilson said.

“If you have more musical theatre majors, then you have to do bigger musicals,” she said. “If you have more dancers, then you have to have more dance concerts.”

Weller-Stilson said there has been an increased interest in performing arts at the school, which has also resulted in more shows for the public to enjoy.

“When we first moved here, we were at 107 (students) in 2007, for theater, and we are now right at about 207 (students) this past fall,” she said. “Not every area has seen that huge of a jump, but that particular department has.”

And Crisp Museum at the River Campus keeps expanding, she said.

Everywhere you look, Weller-Stilson said, the River Campus has grown.

“I don’t think we’ve hit our peak; I think there’ll be more audience members to get and more shows to do,” she added.

The rest of Cape Girardeau — specifically downtown — has been thriving as well.

Molly Wilhelm, director of Discovery Playhouse in downtown Cape Girardeau, said the business once started out within West Park in Cape Girardeau, but it moved to its current location in the heart of downtown at 502 Broadway.

The venue offers activities to children of nearly all ages, and as of late, activities also catered to adults.

“[The owners] were looking for a building they could have to make it bigger, to expand on what they were already doing,” Wilhelm said.

Since the move, Wilhelm said, attendance also has increased.

Kylie Sexton with Escape Cape in downtown Cape Girardeau also has seen a steady growth, she said, and still sees a lot of growth ahead.

Escape Cape at 1231 Broadway is an escape room, where teams of people find clues and solve puzzles in order to “escape” their rooms.

With several places to eat downtown, Sexton said her location caters more to people who travel to and from those restaurants.

Brenda Newbern, executive director of Cape Girardeau’s convention and visitor’s bureau, credits much of the city’s growth to Drury Plaza Conference Center, the SportsPlex and Courtyard by Marriott.

She labeled the additions as “definite impacts” to the growth of Cape Girardeau and also increased the number of people visiting the area through conferences, tournaments, corporate and leisure intentions.

It allows Cape Girardeau to grow and accommodate a higher demand of visitors, Newbern said, adding local heritage and art venues to the list.

“The fact that magazines like National Geographic recognize our beautiful architecture are the types of positive impacts from tourism and increase the economic impact of Cape Girardeau,” she said.

Knudtson considers Dogwood to be something fueling the music scene and new offerings. Isle Casino Cape Girardeau also has provided entertainment value at a higher level, other than “just gambling,” he said, adding there needs to be “more Shipyard festivals,” referring to the Shipyard Music Festival, which was held for the first time in September.

Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau has a major redevelopment plan set for the future, to host Cape Girardeau’s new baseball team, Cape Catfish.

For that project, Knudtson credits former Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger, city manager Scott Meyer and local businessmen Jim Limbaugh, Mark Hogan and Andy Patel.

Downtown Cape Girardeau, like many river towns, used to be “at a fork in the road,” according to Knudtson, but not any longer.

The area has chosen to take a resurgence route through the Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, Marquette Hotel, Marriot by Courtyard and the investment into Codefi, Knudtson said.

“Those projects have single-handedly propped up our downtown to where there’s never any talk anymore about it dying,” Knudtson said. “It has redeveloped itself in a way that I am extremely proud of, and proud of the people that have been a part of that.”

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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