Being Bruce -: Check out The River Room

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Check out The River Room

Last month our buddy photographer Ray Baca and his business partner disk jockety and videographer Brian McArtan opened The River Room, an incomparable new river front meeting and event venue directly on the Cape Fear River in downtown Wilmington, NC at 18 S. Water Street.

Marge and I were out of town for the grand opening of The River Room so we went downtown to check it out and meet with Ray to discuss his vision for the space and to see the view of the river.



We also arranged to meet our friend and uber-promoter Jackie Willsie at The River Room to chat about some upcoming events. Jackie is the founder and president of the highly successful Wilmington Young Professionals group and also the owner and candlemaster of Port City Candles, which specializes in soy-based candles.

Here's Jackie entering The River Room.

To the left of The River Room entrance is a waiting/sitting area. Can you tell the proprietors of the space work in photography, video, and music? You can also catch a clue from this shot that wedding and wedding-related services and activities are central to Ray and Brian's work as well as the target market for bachelor and bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners and luncheons, and full wedding receptions. As Wilmington's already strong reputation as a wedding destination grows The River Room is in a prime location.

The back of The River Room is a wide open space with high ceilings and plenty of riverview windows. Here Ray (on the left) is talking with Kent Milholland of NeoNexus Corporation about using The River Room for a company party.

With seating right now for up to 80 people dining with a dance floor and party capacity of 140 people, this space is a comfortable size. Note that you can also rent the space by the hour for business meetings, with rates that can easily accommodate even two or three person meetings for people without a downtown location.

One of Port City Candle's favor-style candles was in the center of the table at which we met.


For more information, be sure to go to The River Room website, http://www.TheRiverRoomEvents.com or call 910-251-8902.

And if you were to arrive by boat in Wilmington and dock at the riverwalk, here's what you'd see if you tied up near The River Room (photo taken after from the Jubilee Snooze and Cruise, a bed and breakfast on a 45-foot yacht.