All Eyes on Tryon
In September, one of the world’s largest sporting events will bring tens of thousands of visitors to tiny Mill Spring, North Carolina. This sleepy town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains has a hidden claim to fame: It is the home of the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC), which has been chosen to host the World Equestrian Games (WEG) for 2018.
Held every four years (never on the same year as the Summer Olympics), WEG is considered one of the preeminent events on the global sporting calendar. The competition—administered by the Fédération Equestre International (FEI), the worldwide governing body of equestrian sport—includes eight World Championship-caliber disciplines: show jumping, dressage and para-equestrian dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting and reining.
Opened in summer 2014, the Tryon International Equestrian Center has been a beacon for equestrian events, combining world-class horse sport with a host of amenities. Even so, it’s quite a coup for this young facility to land the World Equestrian Games in a small town in Western North Carolina, as past locations for the games have included Stockholm, Sweden; Rome, Italy; and Lexington, Kentucky. The fact that all eight WEG disciplines can be held on-site at TIEC—which also has a cross-country course nearby that supports eventing and driving competitions—gave the Center a leg up in the bidding process. Since the Games began in 1990, there have only been two other host cities that were able to house all the events at one venue.
“We are proud to be hosting the WEG in Western North Carolina and showcasing this great region on the global stage,” says Sharon Decker, Chief Operating Officer of Tryon Equestrian Partners, Carolina Operations. “We look forward to seeing our visitors discover our beauty, our culture and the great treasures tucked away in our charming small towns, great outdoors and incredible cities.”
During the games, from September 11 to 23, TIEC expects to host between 40,000 to 50,000 spectators a day. To ensure that things run smoothly, 4,000 volunteers will be helping with everything from general operations to the actual events. Presenters are hoping the World Equestrian Games at TIEC will turn out to be the largest sporting event in North Carolina history, generating as much as $400 million of projected economic impact for the area during the 13-day event.
Leading up to the WEG, all eight of FEI’s individual disciplines hold separate championships around the globe. The competitors who make it to the WEG in North Carolina in September will feature 1,000 of the world’s best equestrian athletes and horses from more than 70 different countries, including the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Belgium, Japan, United Arab Emirates and Sweden. The winners in each category will be crowned best in the world for their discipline.
The Center is expanding its footprint to accommodate the tens of thousands of WEG attendees. Some of the structures built for the games, like the new 20,000-seat arena, will be temporary, while others, such as the expanded, climate-controlled indoor pavilion, will remain. The latter will enable the Center to hold events year-round and seat 5,000 spectators once it is enclosed. In addition, TIEC is building a permanent, 3-story hospitality building that will house a VIP and media center, and overlook both stadiums.
In concert with WEG, Mark Bellissimo is launching a World Equine Expo in celebration of the horse. The Expo, which will also include a charity gala for World Horse Day and the WEQx Games for athletes of all ages, will honor the horse with trade booths, displays, demonstrations, keynote speakers, educational seminars, clinics and competitions.
By landing the World Equestrian Games this summer, TIEC is hitting its stride. “I believe,” Bellissimo says, “that we are well on the way to becoming the premier equestrian lifestyle destination in the world.”
A Dream Comes True
In the fall of 2013, Bellissimo, a former tech entrepreneur, stood on a bluff in rural Mill Spring, North Carolina, and pictured a grand equestrian complex spreading across the rolling acres below. Bellissimo, the managing partner and largest shareholder of Wellington Equestrian Partners LLC (which operates the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida—the largest and longest-running hunter/jumper event in the world), had been been considering creating a spring/summer/fall equestrian circuit along the east coast for a couple of years to complement the Winter Equestrian Festival he operates in Florida. “The goal,” he says, “was to create an equestrian lifestyle destination centered on a resort that would serve a broad range of demographics and equestrian interests.”
Unbridling his imagination, Bellissimo sketched his concept out on a series of napkins and scraps of paper—known to his four children as “Markhives,” as one of Bellissimo’s daughters collects his sketches—during the plane ride back to his home in Florida. The entrepreneur became familiar with this part of North Carolina through dear friends and Wellington business partners Roger and Jennifer Smith, who live in Polk County. Over the years Bellissimo and his wife attended the Block House Steeplechase in Tryon with the Smiths. “We were enchanted with both the locale, the equestrian heritage, and the energy of the people in the community,” Bellissimo notes.
To make his vision a reality, Bellissimo teamed up with the Smiths and four other families to form the Tryon Equestrian Partnership. They spent over $100 million, engaged 60 companies and subcontractors, employed more than 700 people, moved two million cubic yards of earth, and built miles of sidewalks and roads. On half of the property’s 1,600 acres, they initially constructed six barns containing 800 horse stalls, and roughly 100 additional on-site structures, including luxurious rental cabins, a 50-room lodge, retail spaces and office complexes. The Tryon International Equestrian Center opened for its first show in June 2014.
“I am hopeful that our venues and events will transform equestrian sport from an elite sport for the privileged few to one that is much more accessible and engaging to a population that loves horses,” Bellissimo said. “This country was founded on the back of a horse, and the power and majesty of the horse has engaged humanity for thousands of years. I think we can bring energy and passion for the horse to a larger audience.”
To accomplish this, TIEC takes a different tack. All events here are open to the public free of charge. Equestrian sport, the partners believe, should be accessible to anyone with an interest in horses, regardless of their financial means.
Today TIEC falls under the umbrella of the Tryon Resort, which covers the Cleghorn Gun Club, the Cleghorn Golf & Sports Club, and the Lodge at Lake Lure. Anyone interested in horses can attend equestrian events during the Center’s 40-week schedule, which spans multiple disciplines and runs from mid-April to mid-November.
From Wednesday through Friday, spectators can watch from elevated decks as the horses strut their stuff in several of the 12 smaller show rings. On Saturday the action moves to the lighted 6,000-seat George Morris Stadium—named for the father of modern show jumping—where the Grand Prix hunter/jumper and dressage competitions take place. The centerpiece stadium also holds a variety of VIP spaces, not the least of which is the members-only Legends Club that overlooks the stadium from its covered second-story perch.
To put the schedule in perspective, last year TIEC welcomed more than 2,300 riders from 45 states and 31 countries. Among the highlighted events for the 2018 spring and summer seasons are the 72nd annual Tryon Block Races (on April 14), the longest-running steeplechase in North Carolina, and the United States Pony Club Championships East (July 26-29).
An impressive array of on-site amenities encompasses an “avenue” of shops, selling everything from Lily Pulitzer fashions to jewelry, although the majority of them are horse-related. Among the six restaurants at TIEC, Legends Grill dishes up the likes of horseradish-crusted wild salmon and a char-grilled New York strip; Campagna features pasta and wood-fired pizza; and Blue Ginger focuses on sushi and noodles. Near the shops, The Silo bar, with its sand floor and hammocks hanging nearby, is the perfect place to kick back with a cocktail.
Shops and restaurants are only open during race season. The exceptions, open year-round, are the Dover Saddlery, for equestrian apparel and tack; Roger’s Diner, named for partner Roger Smith; and the General Store, where you’ll find TIEC-branded clothing, grocery items, hand-scooped ice cream, and a deli.
Want to make a weekend of it? Lodging is available at the complex for regular season events for both competitors and spectators. Choose between three- and five-bedroom cottages by the river, 40 one-bedroom log cabins, RV pads with full hookups, or one of the 50 rooms at the Stable House Inn.
As the 2018 season races along, TIEC now boasts seven barns holding 1,200 individual horse stalls. Future plans call for a visitor center, condos and apartments, and a 180-room luxury resort hotel located nearby on the Center’s non-contiguous acreage. TIEC, it appears, is growing by leaps and bounds.
Saturday Night Lights
Among the many events (think classic car shows and beer festivals) that piggyback on show weekends in order to kick up the entertainment factor and engage the community, Saturday Night Lights is the most popular. This spectator event, drawing from 5,000 to 10,000 people on any given Saturday evening, offers fun for the entire family.
Held on Saturday evenings from May through October, Saturday Night Lights takes place in conjunction with a Grand Prix equestrian event. The Grand Prix presents the highest level of show-jumping competition, featuring tighter turns, the highest jumps (with heights up to 5 feet, 3 inches), and the most prize money.
Come early and bring the kids. The fun starts at 6pm (5pm in the fall), and admission to the horse show and parking are always free. Before the main event begins, kids will love getting their face painted and riding the Venetian carousel (rides are free) in Legends Club Plaza, the area just in front of the stadium. To get the little ones excited about the equestrian events, a course of mini-jumps is set up for hobby-horse races. And the kid in everyone will be fascinated watching acrobats and magicians perform, while food trucks and live music add to the carnival atmosphere. At 8pm, the equestrian competition begins in the George Morris Stadium.
You Can Go
Start planning now if you want to attend the World Equestrian Games at Tryon International Equestrian Center in September. The official website for WEG is tryon2018.com.
Tickets are available online at tryon2018.com/directory/List/type/351. Tickets range from $100 for a specific day pass to $1,380 for an all-session full games pass that covers all 13 days of events. Tickets for individual events are less expensive.
Visitors will need to book accommodations in the surrounding area. Since TIEC is located within an hour’s drive of Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina, and Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, there are plenty of options. Check out these websites for more information: nc-mountains.org; visitgreenvillesc.com; exploreasheville.com; visitspartanburg.com; charlottesgotalot.com.
Parking for WEG will be off-site. There will be shuttles to take spectators from the parking lots to the stadium.