Ground Breaking BBQ!
What an exciting Wednesday we had last week! A barbecue dinner was held for over 300 VIP’s at Metroflex Plano’s new location for a ground breaking event! For those of you that are not up to speed Metroflex Plano has teamed up with Gasp/Better Bodies, and Ultimate Sports Nutrition to create a mecca of sorts for the hardcore fitness population. We are calling this …destination. The …destination project is becoming a reality and it was never more apparent that at the barbecue Wednesday night.
The evening began at 6pm as guest arrived to the future location of …destination. Greeted by the staff of Significant Events of Texas, VIP guest’s were given a custom Gasp lanyard and name badge dated for the occasion, and a Gasp licensed, …destination t-shirt. Walking up the 8 foot hill that will serve as base to the …destination foundation was a 60ft x 60ft tent filled with Sonny Bryant’s BBQ, a live DJ, two bars, and a “meet the pros” corner where none other than Branch Warren, Flex Lewis, and Johnnie Jackson sat most the night signing autographs. VIP guests from all over the world came to enjoy the evening and support …destination, including professional athletes, photographers, film makers, judges, top amateur athletes, business owners, trainers, models, and other industry friends.
Just outside the tent sat the “meat and potatoes” of the event; Two 8ft x 8ft display boards that explained …destination in a more visual way. The official architectural renderings of the new building sat on display to the public for the first time, as guests got a new look at what the inside and outside of the new …destination will soon become. The renderings were brought to life by collages of images that contain the life and feeling that …destination will create. Photos of our roots in the original mecca displayed the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Tom Platz, Franco Columbo, Frank Zane, and Dave Draper forging the way for our great sport at the original mecca in venice. Photos of the New School of bodybuilding, particulary those that have risen out of Metroflex Gym: Branch Warren, Johnnie Jackson, Ronnie Coleman, Flex Lewis, and Steve Kuclo show the base of bodybuilding talent that are the heart and soul of the new …destination for bodybuilding. Photos of local competitors were displayed right alongside this bodybuilding royalty representing the athletes that use Metroflex as their daily home to create their competitive physiques and those athletes that will attack the iron in the new dungeon we are creating! Photographs from powerlifting meets held in the past and the promise of an investment in strength sports by housing proper equipment and putting on contests in our house. Photos from seminars to show that we want to pass on the information that creates pros and will continue to do so as more people come to …destination to increase the education of our sport and it’s athletes. Photographs by important industry photographers represent …destination’s dedication to making this facility a place that publications can come and photograph the world’s top talent and display their physiques in the best way possible. Also on display was a map of the world, with lines leading from major cities around the world to …destination. We want this project to expand past our city, our state, and even our country, so that athletes world wide will think of Dallas, Texas as a must-visit place for hardcore fitness enthusiasts.
The HIGHLIGHT of the event happened around 7:30pm. Myself, Greg McCoy, owner of Metroflex Plano, Michael Johansson, owner of Gasp/Better Bodies, and Michael Perkins and Ray Baker, owners of Ultimate Sports Nutrition Plano, climbed in the back of a black on black ford f-350 to address the 300 plus supporters. Thanking the crowd from each business’s perspective and announcing the start of …destination a bulldozer was ordered to “MOVE SOME DIRT!” signifying the beginning of the construction of The NEW Metroflex Plano, Gasp/Better Bodies HQ, Ultimate Sports Nutrition Plano, the beginning of …destination.
See the rest of the photos HERE
