Millionth fan enters city arena

By Denise Dick

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Photo by: Geoffrey Hauschild

Photo

Alexis and Madison Beaudis, ages 2 and 4, play among balloons that fell from the ceiling as Jessica and Adam Hayes along with their 1-year-old son Caiden were recognized at the Covelli Centre as the 1 millionth patron Tuesday evening.

Balloons and applause met Jessica Hayes as she and her family entered the Covelli Centre for the first time.

“You’re the one millionth fan,” said Eric Ryan, the center’s executive director. “You win a pair of tickets to every event [at the center] for the next year.”

Hayes of Lisbon, along with her husband, Adam, and son Caiden, 1, came to the center Tuesday to see Nickelodeon’s Storytime Live. Caiden is a big fan, his parents said.

All of the fanfare brought tears to Jessica Hayes’ eyes. Caiden focused on the balloons.

“We saw the big check and laughed, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we won?’” Jessica Hayes said. “I never win anything.”

The prize package includes tickets to the sold-out Elton John concert May 1.

“Elton John will probably be cool,” she said. “He’s a pretty big name, and we don’t get people like that around here very often.”

The family planned to buy tickets to next month’s “Walking with Dinosaurs” show, but now they don’t have to.

It was the family’s first visit to the Covelli Centre.

“Our son loves ‘Storytime,’” Jessica Hayes explained.

“He flips out and claps,” Adam Hayes added.

Jessica Hayes also won a Youngstown Phantoms jersey. “I like hockey,” she said.

The center opened in October 2005 as the Youngstown Convocation Center. Its first event was a concert by rock group 3 Doors Down followed that same week by a performance from Tony Bennett.

General Motors got the naming rights to the facility and it became known as the Chevrolet Centre. GM, however, facing financial hardship, elected not to renew its contract for the naming rights when its three-year deal expired Sept. 30, 2008.

In April 2009, businessman Sam Covelli entered a three-year naming rights deal, and the center was renamed the Covelli Centre.