Discover Statesville
Welcome to "Discover Statesville," the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns. Co-hosted by community advocates, Richard Griggs and Cindy Sutton, this weekly show brings you the pulse of Statesville, recording live at various spots throughout Statesville in partnership with Sow Media studios.
Join Richard and Cindy as they uncover the hidden gems and local treasures that make Statesville truly special. From the top-notch attractions and exciting events to the remarkable individuals who shape the community, "Discover Statesville" promises to leave no stone unturned.
Hungry for a culinary adventure? Tune in for their delightful restaurant reviews, where they'll guide you to the best places to eat in town. Whether you're a resident or a visitor, this podcast is your ultimate guide to all the things that make Statesville great.
You're invited to come along on this immersive journey, as "Discover Statesville" brings you closer to the heart of our vibrant town. Be prepared to be entertained, inspired, and enlightened each week, as Richard and Cindy share their passion for all things Statesville!
Discover Statesville
Transforming History into Mystery at Statesville's Premier Escape Room
Prepare to be captivated by the enchanting tales from Statesville as Roger Siegrist, the ingenious co-owner of Key to Escape, takes us on a journey through the transformation of a historic 1898 building into a nationally celebrated escape room. Imagine a world where a romantic first date blossoms into a venture fueled by a blend of engineering prowess and psychological insight, crafting intricate puzzles that draw visitors from across the nation. With a location steeped in history—formerly a church, law office, and newspaper headquarters—Roger reveals how the secrets and passages of their venerable establishment contribute to an extraordinarily immersive puzzle-solving adventure.
Venture with us behind the locked doors of escape rooms to debunk the myths of claustrophobia and fear, and instead, discover a realm of narrative-driven teamwork and intellectual excitement. As Roger gives us a sneak peek at the eagerly awaited "Twist of Oz" themed room, we uncover the whimsical draw escape rooms have—even husbands are getting swept up in the anticipation! This episode isn't just about the puzzles; it's a celebration of Statesville's growing stature as an entertainment hub, weaving local culture and visionary entrepreneurship into a captivating story that showcases the heart and soul of this vibrant community.
Are you ready to escape to Statesville, North Carolina? Follow along now as we tell you how.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Discover Statesville. Today we are joined by Roger Segrist, owner of Key to Escape escape room here in downtown Statesville. Welcome, Roger, Good to see you, Richard.
Speaker 4:How are?
Speaker 3:you Wonderful, we are glad that you are here. So I guess let's just jump right in and tell us a little bit, or tell us a lot, about Key to Escape.
Speaker 4:Okay, well, key to Escape. We've been there about six years. Interesting how we got started, my wife and I, of seven years it was our first date and Going to an escape room. We went to an escape room, okay yeah. And years later we fell in love, got married, had some other business ventures on the horizon and one day we were just talking and she said you know what would be fun, because they say there's not a lot to do in Statesville, we'll open an escape room. So we did, and one thing led to another and we found ourselves in a national historic monument and we've had a great deal of fun and well done All in. Huh yeah, 26th in the country and that's amazing In escape rooms, yeah.
Speaker 3:Wow, right here in Statesville, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So let's step back a minute, because we introduced you as the owner of. You're the co-owner of Right and your wife Kim owned Ketescape together. That's a track, so it's a team effort from the beginning.
Speaker 4:It has been a team effort, yeah, yeah. And a unique one, because we couldn't have known. My background is engineering, specifically electrical engineering, and I invent automated systems and have a lot of fun with networks. She's got a master's in psych. She's a provider in the mental health world, so she understands how brains work and the things that are exciting when puzzles. And she designs these experiences and comes up with a magic formula and says can you make this magic happen? And if it doesn't defy the laws of physics, I have fun with it.
Speaker 4:So perfect combination, your two backgrounds coming together to come up with the idea and actually execute it Like it really works well, it really has worked well, we couldn't have really known that if we had taken my limited skill, her extraordinary skill and a historic facility and put it in a bucket and stirred around, what could you pull out of that? And turns out it's a pretty remarkable experience.
Speaker 3:It is remarkable. I've been a few different times to a few of the different. Well, I guess two rooms, maybe three rooms at this point in time it's unbelievable. I haven't been to other escape rooms so I don't have a whole lot to compare it to, but the level of intricacy that goes into even the smallest of details is pretty incredible.
Speaker 4:Well, I appreciate that, richard, and you certainly excelled at this, as I recall.
Speaker 2:I like trying to escape from that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got to join Richard for my first escape room experience and I would say he was very helpful in helping us get through it. So for our listeners who haven't experienced key to escape, we want to really dig into what escape rooms are and what you guys do there. But for people who are maybe more local, talk a little bit about why key to escape and the key building and the history of that beautiful historic old church building that you're in. Talk about that for a little bit.
Speaker 4:Certainly, cindy Well. The facility is built in 1898 by Anna Thornton Washington Key, great-great-granddaughter of Francis Scott Key, who wrote her national anthem. It actually is a national historic monument called the Key Memorial. It was in 19. It was a church, actually still local St Philip's Church until 1956, when it was basically the building was abandoned and then in the 80s, the mid-80s, bert Wasser, who a lot of people around Statesville might remember was an accomplished attorney, did much other renovations in the building. I've got some I should have brought some books that photographs, historical photographs, where some celebrities some now Statesville celebrities like Presley Maddox when they were young men would help build that.
Speaker 1:Celebrity in his own mind, Just kidding.
Speaker 4:Presley and Collier. Yeah, you know, they were kids and I've got pictures of them digging out pieces of the foundation from the abandoned building and then they built it back. Bert Wasser did a remarkable job. It was an attorney's office. At some point it became the IRL Citizen newspaper. Well, you worked in that building.
Speaker 1:I worked in that. Well, I wasn't there where the IRL Citizen was there, right, that was after that After well, the attorneys went back in there. After the IRL Citizen, there was Ralston right and then Spokology was in there for almost two years Before the newspaper, after, after the newspaper Spokology was in there right before you guys built it.
Speaker 1:I think we had moved out maybe six months before you guys bought it and turned it into the amazing experience it is now so and fun fact. Meredith Collins, who is our new community engagement manager at Spokology, was one of the first employees at IRL Citizen when she first started her career in Statesville.
Speaker 3:Really Small town live. We're connected. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's just awesome. Well, the building has roots in Statesville.
Speaker 1:Been lots of amazing things, but I think you guys found what it was meant to be.
Speaker 4:Thank you for saying that, and I hope so. It's been a real rewarding experience. Most escape rooms are in mall shopping centers. They take a box of a building and they figure out a way to make it interesting and fun and most of the time they succeed very well at that. But we have secret building secrets, secret passages almost, which you guys would have witnessed.
Speaker 1:Some yeah, you got me good from the from right when I walked in with a little surprise secret, a little critter the critters.
Speaker 3:Well. So I think that's. I think that's super cool. You know, it's all the little things. So you know, even to get in the building, there's a puzzle. That's true, right. And then it starts from there. So, with designing these rooms, I mean, what does that process look like? What's the timeline on that, from when you know you guys have an idea we should do, you know, next room, we should do this, what does that look like? I mean, is that 18 months, 24 months? I mean? I guess it varies depending on the intricacy of the room.
Speaker 4:It can. One of the things is it kind of morphs, and really that's a bunch of the work that's in Kim's wheelhouse of deciding what the concept might be, and then we kind of banter it back and forth about what it's between what is is possible and all be able to contribute. Well, you could do, you could do something this way or do something that way, and then she'll make some adjustments to the theme or the script. But basically, you know, we look at it like it's a movie, it's an adventure movie and you as the guests are the stars and it's kind of like what does this movie need to say?
Speaker 4:When we first begin to design and it's a little bit fluid at first We'd like to try to maintain the theme, where possible, of where history meets mystery. Because, like the experience that you guys did last was actually rooted in the history of that building, the key memorial, because Philip Barton Key, the namesake of the key clan, made whiskey. It was a large whiskey manufacturer in the whole country with the, the Keen Company, distilling. So that experience surrounds the experience that you did. Surrounds that that as an experience.
Speaker 1:You guys did a great job paying homage to that and then tying in what's what's new with Southern distilling and what they're doing so.
Speaker 4:yeah, you guys have really I love Pete and come full circle with that which I think is cool and it's fun.
Speaker 4:But, to answer your question more directly, the design just it begins to take hold as far as what we want to do. And then? And then how are we going to manipulate the space to think to, to make the puzzles and the game mysterious and surprising? Most escape rooms try to. Facilities will try to turn an escape room as a room in 30 to 60 days, because it makes smart business sense. Yeah, keeps people coming back. Yeah, we're a little bit beyond that because we like the level of detail that we put in it. Five to six months typically. Of course, this one that's about to open has been under construction for over four years, but it's level details.
Speaker 1:Well, there was a little bit of national stuff that gave you a little hiccup there. The international actually.
Speaker 2:Right, it might have been. It was both our.
Speaker 4:There was an epidemic. Well, it was our motivation for putting a little extra into it. We said, well, we can put extra while we're closed, but then at the same time, we were closed for almost well over two years.
Speaker 1:You were missed.
Speaker 4:We were missed, thank you.
Speaker 3:Well, and one of the cool things you mentioned about places trying to turn rooms over quickly and getting repeat business and things One of the things that I think is really interesting, having been a few times, is in any given room, there's so much going on in there that even if you've gone and done a room, going back a few months later and doing that same room especially if you seemingly thought, okay, I worked on that piece last time, I'm not gonna do that. One, it's hard to retain all of the things that you figured out before. Two, there's so much stuff going on If you've got four or five people in there, there's 75% of the things in there that any one person didn't touch or be involved in at all, so it can sort of feel like a new experience.
Speaker 4:One of the important. Yeah, and thank you for saying it, and that's a typical thing. We have people that have come back three, four or more times On the same room and done the same room, yeah.
Speaker 1:When we came together, liz Petrie came with us, the community engagement manager for downtown Statesville, and she had done the room and I'm thinking, oh yeah, well, she has all the answers and Liz will tell you. You know, and she couldn't remember.
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she couldn't remember all because there's so many things.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well that's a lot of. It is what Richard said. There's so much going on that the odds of you being faced with a particular puzzle and challenge in the group you come to next are slim. And the puzzle design to where you may get the general concept of how to solve the puzzle, but there's no possible way to really remember the specifics about how to solve everything. So it works if people come back and do it again. A lot of people just take a couple of tries. They you know some people want to go in there like gangbusters. A lot of our guests just want to enjoy and try to see every puzzle. But it's an hour long experience.
Speaker 3:It goes by fast, they'll run out. Yeah, it goes by quick.
Speaker 1:And they'll come back finish it the second time, Right or the third Well, it helped that we had an Eagle Scout with us, that's right, and Brittany Marlow from downtown Statesville Development she's got a brain for puzzles.
Speaker 4:Well, you guys were all quite brilliant at it and you know it's interesting and I hope the listeners that have never done an escape room. I think one of the not a complaint, but one of the concerns that people have is well, I'm not going to be smart enough or I'm not. I'm afraid that I'll look like I'm not smart. But you guys are smart, but everybody that comes there's a way to look at a problem and everybody's brain works just a little bit different and it's really not about intellectual prowess. It's kind of there's something for everybody. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:We have younger people come and do it and sometimes it's comical because some of the props are historic. Not every young person. They don't appreciate Rotary phones and stuff or a combination law what?
Speaker 1:is that.
Speaker 3:And, in any event that you do get stuck, you guys are there, there's hints, watching, monitoring, and so you do have the ability to say hey, I'm, yeah, that's for hell. I'm more really stuck. That's far more fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, ask for little hints, but there's for someone who's never done an escape room, like I was. There's other misconceptions too. I am highly claustrophobic and I worked in that building for several years so I knew the chemical makeup of the building. So I myself was hesitant. So when I'm my first hot air balloon ride with Richard and then commits me to do my first escape room, Were you trepidatious about a hot air balloon?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm scared of heights. I was very, and it was Richard's first too. So when we launched this podcast last August, charles Page and Christy Darling took us up in a hot air balloon ride and it was amazing. So I'm so glad that I had that experience now, and I'm also glad I've had an escape room experience now. So I say that, though, firsthand. I know there's some other misconceptions that you guys post a lot about, so do you want to maybe go through some of those? Like, you're not locked in a room.
Speaker 4:Right, well, that's a big one, and thanks for bringing it up, Because that is if nobody's done an escape room. That is another thing. Well, I don't want to be scared. Well, we don't set out to scare anybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:It's not scary. You know I don't like being scared. Now we're going to be intense but we're not going to jump out and say, boo, you're not going to get that kind of thing. And certainly there are some escape rooms that might have a more risque, horror-based kind of theme, but this was originally a Catholic church. We're going to be a little bit respectful of that.
Speaker 1:I was looking for some shots at the end.
Speaker 4:That could happen, not during work out.
Speaker 1:The claustrophobia. Yeah, that's real for me, yeah.
Speaker 4:And a lot of people are like well, I don't want to be locked in. Well, no, modern day escape room. Even though it's called an escape room, it's almost not named correctly. It's more of an. I put adventure on the front sign. It's an adventure experience Because you're not trying to get out of something, You're trying to get in. It's like you know, I liken it to the movie National Treasure. He's trying to solve this mystery, one puzzle at a time, and he's trying to get farther along. He's got to figure out all these put lemon on the Declaration of Independence or all the things that he had to do to solve it. You're trying to get in Because, quite frankly, you can walk out of the escape room anytime you want and you can walk out of the escape room. I think our fire marshal wouldn't appreciate it.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're saying escape to states will not escape from Now that you say I mean now that you say it that way, it makes perfect sense. So you have, you have two rooms that are going right now two rooms right now.
Speaker 4:The third, which we've been working on for several, several years, is a called the the twist of Oz, and it means just what it says and it was originally supposed to be room called game on, game on. We had an entire room in our house filled with every board game and permutation of board game Then, I think, has ever been made. It was incredible.
Speaker 1:I don't think you should give up on that idea. That's well.
Speaker 4:Somewhere along the line, kim and her wisdom said you know what we should do? A Wizard of Oz room, because of the way the the licensing is opening up. And Boy, was she right? Because once we announced it, it is absolutely amazing how many people we get 510 calls a day, right.
Speaker 1:Might even get my husband. Is it open? Is it open? Is it open Is?
Speaker 4:it open. When is it open? And it it's gonna be, it's gonna be an experience. I Don't know for sure, but I think once we announced we're opening booking, it may be like a Taylor Swift ticket.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:To be good for us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well it's you know it's, it's a. There's a gimmick there with the Oz thing and so you've got Wizard of Oz lovers that so many know will travel, which I think is another cool thing about key to escape. Is you guys sort of keep track of Escape room people?
Speaker 4:there are escape room people out there that there are that really like this is their thing, you guys have had visitors from worldwide.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean all over the place probably More from out of the area than Right in the area. We're only just now starting to feel more people from Statesville Gravitate to the facility. But yeah, we've got weekends and you know this said this speaks something to to you guys. You know Statesville was in years past. It seemed to me like the place when you were in Statesville in the weekend came what are we gonna do this weekend? And you went to Charlotte or you felt like you had to go somewhere Winston Hickory, whatever, I heard you went bowling bowling.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but you know you had some of my favorite people oh, andy and Jason with a twisted oak. Yeah you had Pete and Vienna Barger, our heroes of Statesville. I mean they brought something to. Southern Stilling. They brought something to Statesville where somebody is sitting in Charlotte and they say, honey, what should we do this weekend? Now they'll leave what people think is the bastion of entertainment in Charlotte or Asheville and they'll come to Statesville for a place like Key, to Escape Southern Stilling and More every day downtown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, downtown even our the arts council. I know you've been seeing the amazing things that they.
Speaker 4:They're unbelievable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every week there's concerts.
Speaker 4:now and the people that come to see us from out of town. You know they say, well, where, where can we? Where can we eat? What should we do? But the weekend people we get a lot of feedback of just just how remarkable this downtown area is. They're just this is, they're amazed. Yeah, well we got it going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope you know how proud I am of Statesville. I mean I Statesville's my, my passion. So we're glad you guys are back open, and Wizard of Oz is actually my husband's all-time favorite.
Speaker 4:Is it really?
Speaker 1:all-time favorite.
Speaker 4:We hear this all the time. Your husband usually is the wife that says no, my husband he.
Speaker 1:I don't know that. I'd even seen it before I met him. Yeah, and now we. Watch it more often than I'm not willing to admit that, and a few others to Lion King. You do a lot of, but I think I think I might even get him to go do an escape room with me once, once you guys are open. But for people who are wanting to learn more about key to escape, you're 150 sharp.
Speaker 1:That's correct, yeah and so tell us about your website and the best way to connect with you. You sell tickets in advance. People can make reservations.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm. It's a wwwkey to escape NC comm, just like it spells key to escape NC comm. And there it's. It's a very lifetime. You book, you can see what's available right to that moment and you book online and come.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so groups of six.
Speaker 4:People come. Two at a time. Two is tough. Yeah, I usually recommend a couple couples, you know, like four, six, my six is sort of the max Six there's. One of the rooms is eight is eight is okay. One of the rooms six okay. But you can't go wrong with six. Four to six, six is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were six of us and I'm trying to think that's a perfect number. We kind of broke up into groups.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's room. Yeah, I mean, there's enough room for six Communicating with each other.
Speaker 1:I don't, I don't know if we could have got it done in an hour without I can't imagine two people getting it done.
Speaker 4:It's very rare, that's yeah. They usually have to come back again, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Which you don't mind.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:Come in twos.
Speaker 3:The other thing I do want to mention is just that that I think is cool is is the other, the other kind of special touches that you guys try to do around the community. You know you've done some. I think you did an egg hunt around town one time.
Speaker 4:Through the egg, a lot of, a lot of the. We've got some more things on the horizon that will involve the entirety of of of downtown other businesses, something that you know people can go do at at little or no expense, and we even opened it that way. When we opened Key to Escape, it was a scavenger hunt and then the people that had their code came and helped us open the building with their code Cool.
Speaker 3:Well, and we worked with you. The city worked with y'all on a mobile escape room at Martin Luther King Junior Park last spring, mm-hmm and and ideally hope to do more things like that in the future. So I just think that's really neat that you're, you're expanding your business beyond just that building and and really gives people an opportunity to go do things outside Right.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And making it accessible for everybody, yeah.
Speaker 4:Right, you know, part of our goal too is, you know, the exposure to you know stateful as a whole. I mean there's a lot of neat things, a lot of neat businesses and we need to all be together on it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So sure these scavenger hunts and everything involved the other businesses and brings it all together Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Well, we're, we're close to being out of time, but I do want to talk about like you and Kim aren't just escape room owners. Like you talk about historic buildings. I mean you guys came into state, so when you're very involved in historic preservation, and tell us a little bit about your home and because I mean you, you revitalized an old home, right? And just in time to get married there, right.
Speaker 4:Sure, we weren't. We weren't married when we took the project on Right, and you would think that that would that's a good test.
Speaker 3:That's a good test. That's what Kim said. I don't want to connect again.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it was an odd, she was testing you from the beginning. She sure did.
Speaker 4:Was I worthy? But yeah, the house was nearly condemned. I mean, there were, there were some parts of the roof that had fallen in on ceilings, that had rottened to the core and fell onto floors that fell onto you know it was. It was in tough shape but yeah, we've had some fun with the JC Steel house from 1877, which has an amazing history in and of its own. I mean, jc Steel wrote, wrote a book, sketches of the civil war, which we were gifted a copy by the JC.
Speaker 4:Steel company that's nice but we have a whole museum in the house of of artifacts that are just a little treasures to Statesville, but yeah yeah sure, Very, very.
Speaker 1:I've watched you guys be very passionate about historic preservation. So if you, if you want to learn more about the Steel house, you actually can go out on Google and just look up the Steel house and state, for you can see a lot of stuff.
Speaker 4:Sure, you guys have posted about Google your Facebook page right For the we do have the Steel house as a Facebook page, but if you Google Statesville historic homes you come up, comes up and Google yeah.
Speaker 1:Picture the Steel house. Well, we recommend you do that and, roger, we really appreciate you and Kim's love for Statesville and your investment in fur.
Speaker 4:Well, I appreciate you guys more than you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I can't wait to see you back at the key.
Speaker 1:Sounds good. We appreciate you Everybody. Key to escape escape to Statesville. The time is now. Thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining Discover Statesville. You can email us at discover at Statesville NCcom. Check us out on Facebook at Discover Statesville NC. Hashtag Discover Statesville and our website, Statesville NCcom. Catch us next week as we continue on our journey to uncover the hidden gems, culinary adventures, entertainment, and to be inspired and enlightened as we discover Statesville.
