With the long-awaited grand opening of the permanent Hard Rock Casino in Bristol on Thursday, casino officials want visitors — whether they’re curious first-time guests or high rollers from another country — to know they’re in Bristol.

“What we want people to experience when they come here is not to have the same experience as they have at every Hard Rock in the world,” said Allie Evangelista, president of the $500 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol. “If you go to Barcelona or if you go to Las Vegas, whatever that looks like, when you come to Bristol, we want you to believe and feel you are in Bristol.”

So the casino spent four years amassing a collection of more than 200 pieces of music memorabilia, some of it tied directly to Bristol and its claim to music fame, the 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and others. That event, which happened in downtown Bristol and is sometimes referred to as the “big bang” of country music, led to the city’s designation as the birthplace of country music.

Hard Rock, which has its own deep roots in live music, has dedicated significant wall space inside the casino to pictures and murals of musical artists and their histories, and many include personal items from the performer such as a guitar or costume. Although many of the musicians featured are country, other genres are represented, from rock to soul, R&B and funk.

The collection was curated by Giovanni Taliaferro, Hard Rock’s international vice president of memorabilia and design. He said Wednesday that the items are “authentic pieces and moments of music history” that help craft a narrative that tells Bristol’s story.

Visitors to the casino can see photos and items from many of their favorite artists from Elvis Presley and his gold jacket, which was gifted to a fan and is now displayed in the lobby of the hotel, another full outfit and a handwritten set list. The legendary Prince is also featured in a purple mural, and a pair of his shoes purchased at auction is on display.

Beyonce, who recently released a country album, is there along with one of her dresses, and Ringo Starr and one of his outfits are featured. Other artists represented include Missy Elliott, Dolly Parton, David Grohl, the Dave Matthews Band, 49 Winchester and many others.

Taliaferro, a native of Virginia who grew up in Winchester, dropped his own little Easter egg into the display with a photo of country superstar Patsy Cline, a Winchester native, performing with his grandfather.

He and his team acquired the artifacts through auctions and sometimes directly from the artists. He said he has visited Bristol a number of times since 2020 and attended several Rhythm & Roots Reunion festivals.

He also met with representatives of the Birthplace of County Music Museum downtown. He was so impressed by the lighting at the museum that he made it the international standard for all of Hard Rock.

His team also recreated State Street in Bristol on one stretch of the display and featured Virginia artists on one side of the street and those from Tennessee on the other.

“We have a whole slew of artists celebrating both Virginia and Tennessee. So it’s just a really good concoction and celebration of a wide variety of musicians that have strong ties to either Virginia and Tennessee and then ultimately, it’s kind of like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon right back to Bristol,” he said.

The final item in the collection is a 1960 Corvette that was a birthday gift to country music singer Faith Hill from her husband, country star Tim McGraw. The red-and-white classic car arrived Tuesday and will be showcased on a platform in the middle of the casino floor.

Hiring and training

For nearly three years, Evangelista, a native of Brazil, has overseen the Bristol casino project, including the hiring and training of the staff, which is expected to total around 1,400, as well as the July 2022 opening of a temporary casino. The temporary facility, the first casino to operate in Virginia, originally employed 600 workers.

More than 800 additional workers have been hired in recent months to fill a variety of jobs, from security guards to chefs and dealers. Evangelista said the temporary operation was a good training ground for those who will work at the permanent facility. Much training has also taken place in recent weeks.

“We’ve had folks from all over the world come train our staff, so we’ve had people from Singapore and Lima and Portugal here training,” she said. “Hard Rock is a big brand. We have standards we have to meet. They’re doing classes for multiple weeks to get us to the standards. So when people order something, they are really getting the product that they are accustomed to.”

The Bristol casino project was announced in August 2018 for the vacant Bristol Mall property, although casinos weren’t yet legal in Virginia. In 2020, the General Assembly approved legislation allowing casinos to operate in five cities — Bristol, Danville, Portsmouth, Richmond and Norfolk — if voters approved them in referendums. In November 2020, the city’s voters approved the casino by the widest margin of victory of the four approved in the state.

The temporary facility has drawn more than 3 million visitors from all 50 states and a number of other countries. It has also paid out over $260 million in jackpots and more than $66 million in gaming taxes to the state.

A tour

A tour of the casino on Nov. 1 — less than two weeks before the grand opening — found a work site hopping with activity. According to Evangelista, about 1,000 employees were working that day to prepare for the opening, putting the finishing touches on equipment and gaming machines and TVs and perfecting the plush and luxurious finishes of the décor.

There was activity in every corner of the massive space, which now totals 620,000 square feet.

The gaming floor offers rows and rows of noisy and colorful machines, all designed to entice customers, who will have quick access to a number of ATMs throughout the property.

The new space significantly boosts the gaming features available, which now total nearly 1,500 slot machines, 59 table games and a sportsbook. As soon as the facility is officially open, construction will begin on a poker room with 14 tables, Evangelista said.

The new gaming floor will allow smoking, and a non-smoking area will be developed in the space in the old Belk building, where the temporary casino was located, she said. The casino, which will operate around the clock, closed the temporary facility early Monday to focus on the final work needed to prepare for the opening.

The complex has several bars, including Studio 621, which is part of the property’s Marketplace area, where there are also restaurants. The bar has a welcoming ambiance, with brick walls and warm finishes.

The new hotel, which faces Gate City Highway and is the most visible feature of the property, has 303 rooms. It features an indoor and outdoor pool and a spa with seven treatment rooms.

After morning ceremonies, the casino officially opens to the public at noon Thursday, and the highlight of opening day will be an 8 p.m. sold-out concert by country music icon Blake Shelton. He will perform in the new 2,000-seat Hard Rock Live, Evangelista said.

Live entertainment will be featured frequently at the Hard Rock, including local bands who will play at several spots inside the casino, in addition to the larger concerts.

Three additional concerts have been announced for 2024: British alternative rock band Bush on Dec. 7, R&B performer Brian McKnight on Dec. 14, and Marcus King, a singer, guitar player and songwriter of soulful country rock, on Dec. 27.

For now, shopping will be limited at the casino. Currently, the only store is Hard Rock’s classic Rock Shop, which features Hard Rock T-shirts and other items.

The food

Evangelista said she is most proud that all the food served at the casino will be made from scratch on-site.

“We teach all our team members how to make salad dressings, croutons and barbecue sauce. We make the burger patties, we cut the lettuce by hand,” she said. “If you go into our coolers, you do not see grocery store labels because everything is made here. We print our own labels, and it’s really a culinary experience.”

The property features six restaurants and a coffee shop and bakery called the Constant Grind. The restaurants include Council Oak Steaks & Seafood, which features American steakhouse fare such as beef and shrimp, oysters, crab and lobster dishes, along with liquor and wine. Reservations are already being taken for the eatery, which is popular across the Hard Rock properties, she said.

The other restaurants are the Hard Rock Café, which has been in business for more than 50 years and serves burgers, wings, ribs, steaks, salmon, salads and cocktails; the Fish and Chicken Co., which offers comfort food like fried chicken; the YouYu Noodle Bar, which specializes in Asian fare; Brick’d Italian Kitchen, where customers can order pizza, sandwiches and salads; and Street Tacos, which serves Mexican tacos.

“From a culinary perspective, it’s something we’re really excited about,” Evangelista said. “I think that Bristol is ready for more, and also we have some really cool bars.”

‘Take time to be kind’

Evangelista said she’s also proud of the involvement the company and its employees have had in the community. In the 2 1/2 years since the temporary casino opened, she said more than $1 million has been raised for nonprofits in the area.

Casino executives serve on nonprofit boards, and team members have spent more than 2,000 hours of their own time on projects that help others, from helping build a Habitat for Humanity House to a program that provided backpacks for students going back to school.

“We’ve been really involved because we live here now. … One of our values is take time to be kind, and we want to make sure that we’re giving back,” the casino president said. 

With the permanent casino open and more than double the employees it had for the temporary casino, she added that the expectation is that there will be even more involvement of the casino and its employees in the future.

Partnership with the city

Bristol officials are excited that the full casino is opening this week, and they say the city is ready as well.

City Manager Randy Eads said with the full casino open, the biggest difference will be larger crowds on a regular basis and regular musical acts that will draw crowds on any night of the week.

The city’s police and fire departments are familiar with all aspects of the property and are prepared in case there’s an emergency at the casino, he added.

On Monday, city police and firefighters participated in an active shooter drill at the casino property.

Evangelista said casino officials have a regular monthly call with first responders across the area to share information and best practices.

A police officer isn’t currently assigned specifically to the casino, but an officer is assigned to the area 24/7, the city manager said. The city will provide additional officers for big events involving a lot of people, he added.

The police department is trying to hire additional officers, but that is proving to be difficult, Eads said.

“In a perfect world, we would be beefing up our staff,” he said. “Our problem at the moment is finding qualified individuals who want to become a police officer in today’s environment, and we are in the process of hiring more officers as we speak. We’ve had several officers leave recently to take other positions that are not in law enforcement.”

The city recently repaved the four-lane Gate City Highway in front of the casino, and new water and sewer lines were extended to the site, according to Eads.

So far, the casino hasn’t had a huge, obvious effect on the surrounding neighborhoods, but city officials expect that to change soon.

Plans have been announced to turn the recently closed Stonewall Jackson Elementary School, around the corner from the casino on Euclid Avenue, into a boutique hotel.

There’s also been some talk about developing affordable workforce housing in that area, according to Mayor Becky Nave.

She said city officials included the casino in their recent year-long work on a comprehensive plan for the city. The plan, which was given final approval Tuesday night, includes a casino district that ties the Hard Rock to Bristol’s downtown area.

“We want to make sure that new development that comes into that area between the casino and downtown is compatible with and takes full advantage of the casino and that entertainment industry. And so we feel like by doing this new area, it’s really going to promote connecting the casino with the downtown,” she said.

Nave is involved with the casino in her role as mayor and in her job as director of destination development and advocacy for the Virginia Tourism Corporation. She has also worked a lot with the Danville Casino, which will open its permanent casino later this year.

From a tourism perspective, she said she’s worried that there’s a serious deficit in the number of hotel rooms in Bristol, even with the opening of the Hard Rock hotel. The mayor said she expects more hotels to pop up in the area now with the opening of the full casino.

She and Eads said they are looking forward to the city benefiting from the expected influx of visitors, who will eat in local restaurants and shop at local stores, resulting in a needed financial boost from the meals and hotel taxes.

Nave, who grew up in Bristol, said she could see the Bristol Mall from the back deck of her parents’ house on Randolph Street.

“Back then, I would have never dreamed in a million years that the mall would become a Hard Rock casino,” she said. “I just wish my mama and daddy could have seen it. They wouldn’t believe their eyes.”

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