Big fundraising event to be held next June in Mathews

Entrepreneur MAC has been successful, and he wants some of that success to rub off on his adopted home of Mathews. On Tuesday, the Mathews Board of Supervisors gave him permission to hold a major fundraising event in June 2013.

A Pennsylvania resident with a second home in Mathews, MAC owns Majic Enterprises, a home design, construction, entertainment and film production conglomerate. He recently purchased the building on Main Street that formerly housed Christie Chevrolet and plans to turn it into a Vintage automobile museum and gallery.

Vintage Gallery will function like an art gallery, said MAC, but everything in it will be for sale—automobiles, pedal cars, motor-bicycles, pinball machines, signs, arcade games, artwork and other Americana. He’ll rotate cars from his warehouse in Pennsylvania on a themed basis, displaying muscle cars, or 1930s-era cars, or all British vehicles.

On June 1, 2013, MAC's plans to hold a vintage car show for at least 150 cars, complete with celebrity appearances and entertainment by a nationally-known band. Vintage's production company, Greenleaf Productions, will create a film about the event that will be shown on cable television, he said, and 100 percent of the proceeds from the event will benefit local non-profit groups such as the Mathews Volunteer Fire Department. His father, who passed away four months ago, was a New York firefighter, he said, and MAC always seeks to honor him when fundraising.

After purchasing Christie Chevrolet, MAC gutted the building and began landscaping the back lot. He said the structure will retain its original look and feel, with exposed metal rafters, tin roof and brick interior walls.

Neon dealership signs will decorate the ceiling, and sputnik architectural lights will light the gallery. The windows will be replaced with old English-style divided lights, and ivy will grow up the outside walls. An old garage behind the main building will be converted for storage space, he said, while a planned second-floor addition will be office space.

MAC has lots of ideas about helping the Mathews community. He said he’s in favor of the proposed dredging of Put-In Creek and would be willing to donate a quarter of an acre of land to offset lost wetlands in order to get the project done.

"I think it’s something we’re sorely missing," he said. "This is a perfect balance between keeping nostalgia but bringing in new business that allows the younger generation to come in and establish themselves."

Background

Starting in 1986 with his construction business, MAC quickly began to specialize in theme-style spaces—a room with ’50s décor or an Egyptian pyramid-inspired home theater, a Tuscan courtyard or a Parisian salon. Soon, he branched out into entertainment, creating game rooms with commercial arcade games such as vintage pinball machines and touch-screen multi-game machines that he both sold and serviced. He also specializes in such luxury items as homemade bars, koi ponds and wine cellars.

Four years ago, MAC and his wife J.C. (Josephine, "but she never goes by that") were on a boating trip and pulled into Tides Inn in Lancaster County. They loved the area and came back the next weekend to look at property.

While taking the couple around shopping for property, the real estate agent dropped by the Gwynn’s Island Festival to buy her husband lunch, said MAC, and he and his wife "got a taste of the local flavor." On the island, they happened on an open house for a home for sale and fell in love. The couple has spent summers in Mathews ever since.

In three years, the MAC's plan to retire and sell all of their businesses except their film production company. They’ll make Mathews their primary home, and they’ll winter in San Antonio, Texas.

"Considering the hustle and bustle we’re used to, we took to this area," said MAC. "I don’t think I ever cared about the sunset before, but now we sit there in the back yard, watch the sunset and have a glass of wine."

For information about Majic Enterprises, visit:  http://www.majicjc.com/

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Note:  JC here, I commandeered Mac's blog today to post an excerpt from a front page article he appeared in last month in Virginia.  There will be hell to pay for posting this I'm sure but I wanted our viewers to see Mac's softer side and the things he does behind the scenes to give back to the community whenever he can!  Now if only I could get him to   smile once and a while on camera, lol.

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