Posted on Thu, Oct. 22, 2009

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Party, play center hopes to appeal to parents, too

BY SCOTT PASKE

Eagle correspondent

As workers scramble to prepare for Pure Entertainment's grand opening on Oct. 31, it requires a little imagination to visualize the final product.

But once president Jesse Zogleman opens the doors to the spacious, inflatable play and party center in west Wichita, he doesn't want the visualizing to stop.

"The whole goal is to never be the same," said Zogleman, 29, who acquired the BK Tennis Academy building near Kellogg and Tyler Road in May. "If you come in here to play on the inflatables, every week it will be different."

Zogleman, whose parents, Duane and Jan, started Moonwalks for Fun as an inflatable rental business 25 years ago, is taking the concept indoors. The 26,000-square-foot facility has been converted from a tennis center into an entertainment hub designed to appeal to people of all ages.

"It's been brewing around in Jesse's mind for about four or five years," said Adam Rosenboom, Pure Entertainment's director of operations. "We've been going to trade shows and getting to know everybody that does an indoor facility. We found out what they do best and what they don't do, in our opinion, to accommodate parents.

"We've tried to take the best of everything, then expand on it."

Pure Entertainment will feature an adult lounge off the main play area that will serve alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, as well as of food items. Flat-screen televisions will be set up in the lounge and near tables adjacent to the play area.

The facility also contains four 500-square-foot suites designed for birthdays and other types of parties. The suites overlook the play area and feature TVs, individual sound and climate controls, and VIP parking spots with their own entries into the suites to make things like gift transferal easier.

Pure Entertainment offers birthday packages for eight, 16 or 24 children, with each party supervised by a "party coach." The parties last one hour, 45 minutes.

"It's an unbelievably customizable experience," Zogleman said.

But Pure Entertainment isn't limited to partygoers. The facility will be open seven days a week for "open bounce," or general admission. Adults get in free, while youth admission is $7.99 on weekdays and $8.99 on weekends.

Pure Entertainment has an inventory of more than 150 inflatable slides, bouncers and games that will be rotated into the main play area. Zogleman said anywhere from seven to 15 inflatables will be set up at one time. The center also has a projection TV that can be used on a 45-foot-high wall in the play area to show sporting events or slide shows.

Ideas for the facility seem endless. Pure Entertainment has already booked a wedding ceremony and two wedding receptions in addition to birthday parties.

"It just seemed to me that there's not enough places for kids to hang out," Zogleman said. "And there's nowhere really in Wichita, if you're a dad or mom, that both kids and adults can enjoy the atmosphere.

"We want this to be a place where Mom and Dad are arguing over which one gets to bring the kids here."

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