Past Glory, Future Promise
CURRENT PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL AND PROVIDED BY RP FUNDING CENTER | HISTORIC CONCERT PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER LEE HELTON
DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE RP FUNDING CENTER
When someone rolls up to the RP Funding Center for Collectorama next month in their shiny red Corvette, it’s unlikely they will realize that 42 years ago the iconic pop star Prince recorded the “Little Red Corvette” music video on that very site.
And to think that Elvis hosted concerts not once, but twice, at what was established as the Lakeland Civic Center in 1975 might seem like revisionist history to Lakelanders who didn’t grow up in the area.
As the RP Funding Center celebrates its 50th anniversary this year it’s fun to take a trip back in time to an era of rock n roll shows and epic experiences, but it’s just as important to recognize how vital the facility is to the future of the city, even if Mötley Crüe or Van Halen aren’t walking through the door anytime soon.
Left: Vivian Campbell, Dio
The Center of Attraction
Step inside the 100,000 square foot multi-purpose facility today and you will be greeted at the front entrance by an exhibit that is an ode to the entertainment megaplex that in some ways helped put Lakeland on the map as more than just a bypass between Tampa and Orlando.
To celebrate half a century of connecting people and being a pre-eminent spot for shows, sporting events, conventions, conferences, parties and more, the RP Funding Center staff curated relics and memorabilia from major events over the years, including:
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Florida High School Athletic Association state championships
Elvis Presley
Disney on Ice
Larry the Cable Guy
Guns N’ Roses
Wizard of Oz
Willie Nelson
Elton John
Former Lakeland City Manager Gene Strickland, who worked for the city for nearly 35 years, said it best during an interview released on RP Funding’s Center’s social media last month.
“What would this city be like today if this building was not sitting in this area next to downtown? Can you imagine?,” he asks the audience. “I’m telling you, this building gave Lakeland a start into the future that’s had the greatest impact of anything that’s ever been built in this city.”
The city’s stated purpose when the then $13 million complex opened was to become “the center of the state” and provide a venue that drew in crowds from the metropolitan areas as well as gave locals something to be excited about that was on par with what bigger cities offered.
It did just that, and at times, in spectacular fashion.
Acclaimed rock ‘n’ roll photographer Christopher Lee Helton fondly remembers thousands of fans going wild for acts like Quiet Riot and Cyndi Lauper in the Civic Center arena, a space now best known for hosting graduation ceremonies and sporting events.
“Man, it was magical to me…my favorite thing, probably like everybody else, [was] when the lights go down,” he says. “Being between Tampa and Orlando, they could pick up both crowds and have a better chance of selling out.”
He recalls one time, following an after party that preceded a concert at the Civic Center, going out to breakfast at the local Denny’s with the singers of W.A.S.P., a popular metal band in
the 80s.
“We’re there and all these people show up and they put up chairs all in front of us just to sit there while we’re trying to eat,” he says.
Helton’s work has been published in Rolling Stone magazine and the New York Times, and more recently he collaborated with Hulu to provide content for a docuseries on Bon Jovi. He traveled the globe, first as a bodyguard and then as a photographer, for a plethora of famous acts, but he still has a soft spot for Lakeland even since he relocated to Colorado years ago.
The RP Funding Center is also nostalgic for many Lakelanders who grew up here.
Susan Chere Mask was 9 years old when her mom took her to see The King, Elvis Presley, in concert in 1975. Her mom told her that when Elvis was quiet for a moment on stage she should yell “I love you, Elvis!”—so she did. Elvis yelled back, “I love you, too!” He proceeded to take off the scarf he was wearing around his neck, and handed it to a security who hand delivered it to Susan. Today, the scarf is still a prized possession for Chere, who has worked for nearly 20 years as a teacher for Polk County Public Schools.
An Era of Amending
Cindy Collins gets it. She worked for years for ASM Global, the premiere venue and event management company in the world, and she could literally talk about music all day long.
She has worked with some of the world’s most revered superstars, and some of her favorite shows in recent memory are country singers Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers.
She often hears from locals about the “wonderful beginnings” of the RP Funding Center, and she doesn’t disagree with their sentiment.
But in her role as the director of RP Funding Center she is happy to give Lakelanders an all-access pass to how the facility is working to be more community minded and relevant than ever, including some fun surprises along the way.
“There are some things that we’re not doing that we used to do, but there are things that we’re doing now that we never did before. We have become a focal point for sports—state competitions, conference championships, things like that,” says Collins, who moved to Lakeland from Kentucky in late 2023.
Additionally, she and her team have been consistently connecting with the business and educational community to provide valuable experiences for professionals and students. One example is the Florida Woodturning Symposium the Center hosted earlier this year.
She said it was amazing to see lifelong craftsmen bond with a younger generation who had probably never heard of a wood lathe or other hand held tools they had the chance to experience up close and personal.
“I asked one of the kids, ‘What was your favorite thing, what did you learn?’ [The students] said, ‘I’ve often wondered, What am I ever going to use geometry for?, and now I realize there are everyday things that you have to know measurements like a quarter of an inch and know things about right angles, tools, etc.’”
“I’m telling you, this building gave Lakeland a start into the future that’s had the greatest impact of anything that’s ever been built in this city.”
There’s also a sewing expedition that annually showcases advances in manufacturing technology, the annual Miss Florida Scholarship Competition and a bevy of other events that focus on educational opportunities and the skills and talents of the next generation.
Lakeland’s burgeoning business community is constantly making connections and learning together inside RP Funding Center. Last year, hundreds of entrepreneurs and business owners came together for the inaugural Central Florida Business Expo that included a keynote presentation by New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller. The event was so well received that the 2025 Central Florida Business Expo is already on the calendar for September 24.
Local realtor Marlana Alvarez moved to Lakeland eight years ago, and she says the Center has been a place where she has been able to effectively plug into the business community.
“Every time there’s a big event or conference where there needs to be more than a couple hundred of us this is where we get together,” she says in an “Our Stage, Your Story” segment produced for the Center’s social media accounts. “My best memories are going to the Chamber of Commerce’s annual breakfast, big conventions and local conventions hosted here that I’ve been able to be a part of.”
A quick Google search will show you that RP Funding Center is subsidized by the city, meaning a portion of the city’s budget each year is allocated to cover the operating losses of the facility. To bring in nationally known acts and shows on a regular basis would (and did in the past) require hefty budgets for marketing, artist fees and production costs that carry a level of risk city leadership has to carefully weigh with many priorities to juggle. That’s one reason the lineup of events has drastically changed over the years.
Impressively, a subsidy that was more than $2 million just a few years ago is now under $1 million, a testament to Collins and her team’s efforts.
When it comes down to the facts, the economic impact of the RP Funding Center is undeniably significant.
A 2019 study by Downs & St. Germain Research revealed the Center had an annual economic impact of $88.6 million based on 323,000 visitors, including 43 percent who were from outside of Polk County.
“I’m a music girl, don’t get me wrong,” Collin says. “If I have a concert there’s going to be some people from out of town and they might stay a night, and if we’re lucky they might stay two nights. But when you bring in these competitions, people are staying in town for four or five nights. They’re buying gas, they’re shopping, they’re staying in hotels, they’re eating at restaurants. This means double the economic impact and it’s not just local money changing hands—it’s new dollars coming into the community.”
Today, the RP Funding Center hosts a wide range of entertainment, business, art and community building events. That includes concerts, events like the annual sewing convention and theatre experiences like Swan Lake of the World Ballet Series.
A Future to Get Excited About
With that in mind, the RP Funding Center staff are diligently pursuing more ways for local business to financially benefit from the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the building each year, as well as provide more relevant entertainment and enrichment opportunities.
RP Funding Center now serves Swan Brewing beer, Keel & Curley wine and locally roasted coffee, a way for out-of-towners to first experience some Central Florida favorites.
Collins continues to work closely with Catapult to find ways for new restaurateurs or caterers to gain exposure, and in the future she plans on doing more cross promotions with the Florida Children’s Museum and Bonnet Springs Park.
Recently, a partnership with the Florida Wildlife Corridor and Lakeland CRA came to life in a big way—in a fashion that measured 3,416 square feet to be exact.
On the east wall of the building a mural titled “Echoes of Resilience” showcases some of Florida’s most iconic wildlife in a vibrant fashion, including a roseate spoonbill, a Florida panther, a great horned owl and an American alligator.
The purpose of it was to draw attention to the corridor that spans nearly 18 million acres of land throughout Florida that is essential for the survival of many endangered species and to enhance the facade of the half-century old structure.
“We are definitely going a hundred miles an hour at connecting and giving the community an opportunity to come in and be part of [what we are doing],” Collins said, noting her staff has really enjoyed mingling with neighbors at First Friday events downtown, including the Dos de Mayo themed event they sponsored in May.
Collins said she appreciates how supportive the City Commission has been recently, and she believes city leaders “do the most they can under the constraints they have” which includes road projects, infrastructure upgrades, etc.
When it comes to making new memories, Collins is working hard to find clever ways to bring more fun back to the community.
She said one unequivocal success earlier this year was a free concert by the United States Navy Band that brought together hundreds of families of people who have proudly served the country in that capacity.
“I was just kind of expecting a bunch of patriotic tunes—and there were some of those—but oh my gosh, there was Broadway from Wicked, there were some really good vocals and there was music I knew. It was amazing,” Collins said.
Later this year, the United States Army Band is coming to town for a free concert that should match that energy.
When it comes to celebrating the Center’s 50th anniversary in grandiose fashion, Collins was excited to recently announce that The Marshall Tucker Band is coming to town on September 13. The Southern rock band known for hits like “Can’t You See” and “Fire on the Mountain” played at the Lakeland Civic Center during its inaugural season. Thanks to a sponsorship Collins secured, RP Funding Center is selling tickets for $19.74 (to celebrate the year the Center opened with a reduced service fee of $2.50.
“They’ve played here several times and they are definitely a band of the south,” Collins said.” They’re down to earth…they’re wonderful guys, and if you really want to show me that you want music, let’s sell this out.”
She said the number one thing that will determine whether she succeeds or fails to bring more national acts back to Lakeland is whether people in Central Florida buy the tickets.
“I can ask all my promoter friends to bring in a show, but if the tickets don’t sell, they’ll only bring one [performer or band,]” she says. “ As the music world says, ‘You’ve gotta feed the gig.’”
Collins is on the precipice of being able to announce some more big-time shows, and if people in Central Florida show up in droves it could mark a turning point for the caliber of entertainers performing at RP Funding Center.
In July, Collins and her team are inviting Lakelanders to celebrate the past and get excited about the future with an open house at RP Funding Center that will show off historic memorabilia, feature family friendly activities and connect people with local vendors. Check out rpfundingcenter.com to stay tuned to the official date for that event.
It’s a party half a century in the making.
Celebrate 50 Years by Making New Memories
May 31 and June 1
Repticon Reptile and Exotic Animal Show
June 15
The LOL Podcast
June 24-28
89th Annual Miss Florida Scholarship Competition
June 26-28
Collectorama
July, date TBD
RP Funding Center 50th Anniversary Open House
July 18-19
Fancy Flea Vintage Home and Garden “Just Beautiful Things”
August 8
Girls Night The Musical
September 13
Marshall Tucker Band : All Our Friends Tour 2025