Thursday September 18, 2006 

New Ag Center Director Peter Keough

New Director named for Ag Civic Center

By Charles Murphy

Pete Keough is the new director at the Okeechobee Ag Civic Center, he took over last week.  Keough comes to Okeechobee from St. Lucie County. He worked as their Director of Parks and Recreation for nine years. He also has lived in Okeechobee on weekends with a residence in Buckhead Ridge. He knows the community and has always wanted to live and work here. “We want to establish a presence out here at the Ag Center,” Mr. Keough said.

Mr. Keough has had big responsibilities before. While working in St. Lucie he was in control of 22 miles of ocean front parks, three sports complexes including Lawnwood, and for a time that county's Ag Center.

Before his time in St. Lucie County, Mr. Keough worked for Coral Springs. He stated that when he first moved to Florida he stopped in Okeechobee and fell in love with the place. However his job opportunity was further south so he couldn’t live in Okeechobee at that time.  Since that time most of his recreation time has been spent in Okeechobee.
     

Keough said he likes challenges. In Coral Springs he was there when the city grew to total build out. He had the same challenge in St. Lucie County and oversaw a huge increase in growth there as well.  Mr. Keough oversaw the spring training of the New York Mets, and several other events. He’s looking forward to a slower lifestyle in Okeechobee.

“I can’t speak to the past I can only try to do new things,” he said. He hopes to develop new programs including a festival of lights show. He wants to develop events that are centered around religious and national holidays. He also wants to see the Ag Center join a league of agricultural and equine centers. That includes the Florida Fairgrounds in Tampa, the Arcadia Arena, and the facility in St. Lucie County.
     

Keough said that events could be held at each facility in the League, which might be attractive to some shows that want to put on more than one event in Florida.  Keough also would like to have new events like a horse whisperer. He noted he is negotiating with a show that came to St. Lucie County and was very successful. The promoter would like to put on a show at the Okeechobee Ag Center.

Other events could include an event on the National Day of the Cowboy, July 22nd. President George W. Bush proclaimed the day this year. Mr. Keough said Okeechobee would be a natural spot for a salute to the cowboy.   “This is one of the Cowboy capitals of the world. This would be a signature event,” he noted. 

Mr. Keough said the Okeechobee facility is in a similar situation that faced the St. Lucie facility about 10 years ago. He noted when the St. Lucie facility was built on Midway Road, there was a lot of doubt and skepticism about it working out.    “There are some people that felt there was only cow pies out there. However our County Centennial celebration got a lot of people aware of the facility. More events began looking at the facility as the natural and logical choice for their event. The location we chose was very important.”  Keough said the Okeechobee facility was also in a good location. He noted the major thoroughfares into town Hwy. 710 and Hwy. 70 are easily reached by this location.  “Whenever you open a business, you give it a few years. Not everybody will show up on day one. You just need to sit back and kind of watch us grow,” he said.   

Keough stated that the Okeechobee facility has just as much potential as it’s counterpart in St. Lucie County. He said there are 2,520 seats available in the covered arena with the potential for another 2,100 seats on the floor. That is enough, he notes, to attract concert promoters.     He mentioned that climate control facilities aren’t always the best venues for events.  “This is a notch up from the St. Lucie facility,” Mr. Keough said. He mentioned the enclosed restrooms, and concessions and it’s controlled access points as big assets for any facility. The barn next door is big enough to accommodate many equestrian type events.

“This is a lifestyle for me, not a livelihood. The people in these events are people I’m comfortable with. Okeechobee has been my escape,” he said. Mr. Keough noted that he expects to use volunteers to help man the office and the phones at the Ag Center so more people can get in contact with the facility. He hoped to have a full time maintenance man and keep assistant Larry Davis as well.

Reproduced by  Okeechobee County UF/IFAS Extension Service  from on-Line Archives of the Okeechobee Times.  Posted 09/18/2006 .