SHOW ME CENTER USE SURPASSES EXPECTATIONS

In a short five years, the thousands of events held at Cape Girardeau's Show Me Center have attracted almost 1.8 million people. That includes more than 750 arena-type events that have been attended by about 740,000 people. More than 60 of those were concerts. Another 547,000 people have attended Southeast Missouri State University athletic events at the center.

Attendance totals since the center opened in 1987 add up to a spectacular beginning for an arena that skeptics thought would never fly because of its location on the university campus and the joint financial arrangement through which the $13.5 million facility was built by the university and the city.

Attendance numbers and the 2,155 total events it has hosted have surpassed most people's expectations. Even David Ross, the only director the Show Me Center has had, said he is amazed by the figures and the quality of entertainment the venue has attracted.

A real feather in its cap was when Bob Hope performed for the center's debut event during its grand opening in August 1987. That was followed in October by rock 'n' roll sensation Tina Turner, for whom 7,300 people jammed the arena.

The 15 top-attended arena events have included concerts by top country and rock artists, with attendance ranging from 5,700 for an October 1987 performance by the Oak Ridge Boys and The Judds to 7,355 for a July 1988 concert by Aerosmith and Guns 'N' Roses.

Just this month, the arena hosted its first live theater event, "Phantom of the Opera," and Ross said he hopes to bring more such events here. Ringling Brothers Circus' "Greatest Show on Earth" performed here in 1990; there have been rodeos, "monster-truck" and ice-skating events, and World Wrestling Federation matches that always attract large crowds. The list goes on.

The Show Me Center is home to the university's basketball Indians, which only recently made a move from NCAA Division II to Division I competition in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Show Me Center, as opposed to the outdated and crowded Houck Field House, in which the team previously played, weighed heavily in the school being allowed to move up in competition and join the OVC.

The success of the Show Me Center points to the fact that residents of Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area were in want of a major venue in which they could entertain themselves. That they have done. Their overwhelming use of the facility has brought the center to where it is today.