Final adjustments and tweaks of major internal systems at Dickies Arena continues ahead of the grand opening of Fort Worth’s newest entertainment venue next week.
Trail Drive Management Corp.[TDMC], the nonprofit manager of Dickies Arena, welcomed Trimble Tech High School senior class on Wednesday, Oct. 16 to test out the venue’s systems.
To ensure proper plumbing functionality, the high schoolers flushed all the toilets. Then, the students also rode up and down two sets of escalators inside the venue.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get people in and test all the systems out,” president of TDMC Matt Homan said. “Obviously test the toilets out, so that it does not happen at our first event, come either Oct. 26 or Nov. 2 or 8.”
The arena will seat about 14,000.
According to Dickies Arena, the students and school staffs together flushed more than 440 toilets simultaneously.
Some of the toilets did not flush with as much water pressure as anticipated, which Dickies Arena officials said was because all the toilets were being used at once.
Homan said workers and the management will be working to add in final touches before the grand opening.
“Everything worked,” Homan said. “We didn’t have major backups or anything, which was really important. From here, it’s about fine-tuning.”
Personnel from TDIndustries, which did the plumbing and HVAC works at the venue, were also on site to provide any assistance or service.
TDIndustries have put on an estimated 41 miles of plumbing, 10 miles of HVAC work and 14 miles of air duct at the arena, according to the Dallas-based construction company.
Dickies Arena will host a ribbon cutting ceremony, open to the public, to formally open the venue on Oct. 26.