Orange Beach, AL. — When the Orange Beach City Council agreed to buy the conference at The Wharf in March, officials said the 27,000-foot facility had a lot of potential

A few short months later and that potential has already been realized.

“I only have three weekends (open) between now and the first of August,” Angela Bateman of Orange Beach’s Parks and Recreation Department said. “I’ve had one book since then. Student Life does June and July so that takes out those eight or nine. We have filled up the weekends.”

Bateman was charged with doing research on similar facilities to study what kinds of events to schedule and what to charge for rentals.

On Tuesday the City Council passed a resolution setting the rules and regulates and rates for the center. The resolution included allowing discounts from 25 to 50 percent off the $1,000 per day rental depending on how many rooms in Orange Beach are rented by the attendees.

If a group books 100 to 199 rooms, it receives a 25 discount on the rent. Up to 299 rooms nets a 35 discount and anything over 300 rooms booked will make the daily rental $500.

"The event center as it is right now is at a disadvantage because there is no hotel attached, and so the first year of its existence, or 18 months, we need to get people in there," Bateman said. "We thought that offering discounts for room nights, the city would make its revenue on the back end through the lodgings, rather than on the front end through rental."

Bateman said with the city’s lodging tax, 300 room rentals would bring in about $1,500 to the city.

"This is so important because no one knows us, and for someone in event planning to take a chance on something, there’s got to be some lagniappe, there’s got to be a carrot," Kennon said. "Once they take a chance on us and they see how good a job that we do and the service they get from the city of Orange Beach, they’ll come back."

Councilman Jeff Slivers praised the hard work by Bateman on the Events Center.

“Number one, when we bought that it was an undertaking to see what other area event centers are doing,” Silvers said. “For the council, she went and did a lot of calling around, talking to people, event coordinators and stuff like that. Met with the CVB, met with the sports commission folks and put a lot of hours into planning and putting on paper exactly where event centers like that are at. And what we should do.

“I don’t know that some staff and council members realize what an undertaking that is to put all that information together.”

The events coming to town range from boat and home and garden shows for the public and trade shows for attendees in a specific business.

“We have a beauty expo in March and that leads into garden show, boat show,” Bateman said. “The beauty expo is not for the public. It’s a trade show for vendors. They’ll have booths and everything. They also are going to do a fashion show and hair show as part of the event. It’ll be the first time they’ve come down here.”

Other events include Mardi Gras balls, a gospel quartet convention and a youth convention by Gulf Shores Church of Christ that will pull teens from Alabama and other southeastern states.

“We have a lot of different kinds of events going on,” Bateman said. “And before I got into it I always kind of had the assumption we would have mostly for large groups meetings. For example we’ve got Gulf Youth Rally which is by the Church of Christ in Gulf Shores. The following weekend we have a bridal expo. It’s for the public.”

Live music shows are also being considered for the venue. The quartet convention, which is pretty much an audition for quartets to snag bookings from churches, is a bit of a test case for concerts at the center.

“We’re going to see how the quartet convention goes,” Bateman said. “Phillip Bryant from Red Mountain Entertainment and with the Amphitheater at The Wharf has expressed an interest to do a smaller series during the wintertime.”

Improvements continue on the facility as the excitement builds for 2012.

“We are currently in the process getting the floor redone and getting a catering kitchen installed,” Bateman said. “We hope to have all that done by the end of the year. We have been working with local caterers to get their input on the layout of the kitchen.

“We balance between smaller, self-catered, self-produced events to large events like the boat show.”