"Harrah’s Cherokee Casino unveiled its latest edition – a 3,000-plus seat Event Center – on Friday night, and the future of live entertainment in western North Carolina is a bright one.

The new facility is part of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ $633 million expansion of the casino. On its opening weekend, country music legend Hank Williams Jr. and rising country stars Lady Antebellum performed to near-capacity crowds. Other acts planned for the new center through December are Crosby, Stills & Nash, Paula Deen – my wife really wants to see her show – Jason Aldean, Cirque Shanghai, Josh Turner, Larry the Cable Guy, Dierks Bentley and Gary Allan.

Chief Michell Hicks said during the ceremony that the project is the sixth-largest in the United States and has added 1,200-1,400 construction jobs to western North Carolina.

Despite a rough economy, Harrah’s Cherokee has increased revenues over the last year – Atlantic City and Las Vegas cannot say the same, Hicks said. Even more impressive is that the increase occurred while rockslides closed roads into Cherokee from the east, west and north."

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Editorial: New center spectacular (The Andrews Journal 9/9)