Audio clip
Tim Grant
DUNLAP, Tenn. — Tim Grant says he’s constructing a kids’ paradise on the south end of Dunlap.
Kids Play Adventures will be similar to Chattanooga’s Chuck E. Cheese’s in the combination of games, activities and food, said Mr. Grant, a Dunlap native.
“It’s a kid environment where a kid can be a kid and they don’t have to worry about the weather,” Mr. Grant said. He was clearing the way last week for carpet installers and electricians en route to a May 2 opening.
“A lot of people in the valley that have their birthday parties have them outside at parks and stuff like that and try work around the weather,” Mr. Grant said. “But they can have their parties here, and they can come anytime.”
Kids Play Adventures will have a concession area with pizza, chicken nuggets and other game-room snacks, he said.
Mr. Grant said he keeps a year-round membership at Florida’s Walt Disney World and has visited there as often as 14 times in a year. He wants to adopt the Disney attitude toward running his business, he said.
“If we can have them remember everything (we do) and make their life so much fun here, they’ll keep coming back.”
Kids Play Adventures is housed in a large metal building with high ceilings that allow for the construction of a climbingtube maze that will wind its way overhead, he said. Below, games including Skee Ball, basketball machines, token rides and games and a toddler area will line the walls. Arcade games are coming for the bigger kids, too.
Plans include an expansion for an indoor skate park, he said.
“I’ve been laying this out for two or three years now. I finally just let it come together,” he said.
Mr. Grant’s wife, Shelly, and family friends will oversee the operation along with about five people to be hired by the opening, he said.
Sequatchie County-Dunlap Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Howard Hatcher said the business “sounds like a good addition to the community.
“I have heard some parents are very interested in what he’s going to have there, and we are looking forward to visiting,” he said.
Mr. Hatcher said the county will benefit from the new jobs, too.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Business name: Kids Play Adventures
Employees: Seven to eight
Specialty: Children’s games, food and activities
Address: 6093 state Route 28, Dunlap, Tenn.
Phone: (423) 949-2400
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
