Thousands flock to speedway for Great Wolf job fair

By Karen Cimino Wilson
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Nearly 4,000 people lined up at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Thursday for a chance to apply for 500 openings at the new Great Wolf Lodge opening this March near Concord Mills.

“For the first day here, this is very strong,” said Curtis Brown, vice president of Great Wolf Resorts Inc. “We certainly attribute some of it to the economic downturn.”

In fact, the turnout was so strong, officials closed the three-day fair half way through its second day, indicating there were more than enough qualified applicants to fill the open jobs.

Great Wolf plans to fill 500 positions at its new Concord water park on Bruton Smith Boulevard. 

The Wisconsin-based water-park developer has openings in all departments, including housekeeping, food and beverage, retail, front desk and spa services.

The new 36-acre lodge will have 402 guest rooms, an 80,000-square-foot indoor water park, a food court, fitness center, miniature golf course and 20,000 square feet of meeting space.

Brown said typically Great Wolf will interview about 5,000 applicants over a three-day job fair before opening a new resort. 

But the numbers were nearly that high already on Thursday, he said.

The job fair turnout was so large Thursday that the line snaked out of the Speedway’s media building into the parking lot, leaving several applicants in the cold for two to three hours.

Speedway officials opened a garage and moved the job applicants inside to help them stay warm. They also gave away race tickets to the chilly job seekers.

Guam Reid, 39, of Charlotte said he was laid off from his job in the customer service industry in November. 

He did not want to say where he worked. Reid heard about the job fair from a family member.

“It’s rough looking for a job now,” Reid said. “It’s very competitive.”

Reid got in line at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and still hadn’t gotten to the interview room as of 3:30 p.m.

“I was kind of overwhelmed when I came here this morning and saw the line,” Reid said. “I’m hopeful I can be one of the 500 chosen.”

Ashley Williams, 24, of Charlotte said she’s looking for any job the resort has to offer her. She was working as a bartender but said she wants to find something better.

Great Wolf representatives divided the long line into three separate lines inside the garage. 

Williams said she heard them tell folks in the last line they would wait six hours for an interview. Many had already been there a long time, she said, and some left. 

Chris Kanakis, 26, said he moved from Atlanta to Charlotte six months ago, because the job market was better here.

“It hadn’t hit Charlotte quite as much,” he said, but now it has.

Kanakis said he has been working short temporary jobs while searching for steady employment. The most interesting, he said, was a stint for a reality show that paid $50. 

Great Wolf offers health insurance, dental, a 401K, vacation and personal time, resort discounts and water park passes to its fulltime employees. But Brown said it’s also a fun place to work. 

• Contact reporter Karen Cimino Wilson: 704-789-9141.