Photos courtesy of Janet Adams Photography
On a rainy February afternoon, Marty Parker is in the midst of finalizing last-minute details for his latest endeavor in the world of interactive entertainment, Throw Nation, a new bar and axe-throwing venue on Dublin Center Drive.
Parker’s excitement is evident in the way he interacts with the contractors finishing up for the day as he bids them farewell, high fiving and thanking them for their hard work. To some, this may seem like a chaotic scene, but Parker handles the situation like a seasoned conductor.
Now a Dublin-area resident and business owner, Parker has come a long way from his childhood growing up on a farm in Greenfield, Ohio. It was living on that farm that nurtured his imagination.
The Greatest Showman
“My dad was the greatest showman in everything he did,” Parker says. “Everything we did, from a typical party to getting ready in the morning, was a production.”
Every summer the Parker family hosted a rodeo that started as a way to get friends and family together for an afternoon of entertainment. Parker recalls those experiences being influential on his attitude in life.
The rodeos were a full-on production.
“To everyone that participated, my father was able to make that event seem epic. … Bigger than the Grammys, bigger than the Super Bowl,” Parker says, laughing. “He did it because he put thought behind it, he scheduled it, made fliers and had complete strangers driving from out of town only to be turned away because it was a private event.”
Parker’s father owned a number of bars outside of Dayton and approached the family’s annual event the same way he promoted his bars.
“Growing up in that environment, organically, I was exposed to how you’re supposed to throw an event,” Parker says.
Finding a Way
Parker finished high school and decided to take a year to travel Europe as a foreign exchange student. The experience had a lasting effect on Parker’s outlook on life.
“The last month, I didn’t have enough money left and had about $7 a day to eat,” Parker says. “I really had to make it work … and I did, but boy was I hungry.”
With limited funds, Parker traveled throughout Europe, sleeping on park benches, in train stations and sacrificing showers. When he arrived in Venice, Italy, he had an epiphany.
“I pulled up to this shop and had my Snickers bar in one hand and apple in the other, and I’m looking in the window and there was a hot plate of steaming lasagna,” Parker says. “I made a decision that day that I was going to do whatever it took to make enough money that I’m never going to starve. It was a feeling that I don’t want to have ever again.”
After Parker made his way back to the States, he enrolled at Ohio University’s theater program.
“That idea of, ‘How am I not going to starve?’ kept going through my head,” Parker says. “I had a professor come up to me and say, ‘You know what, Marty, you’re going to wait tables the rest of your life,’ and that hit me in the head.”
With a deflated ego, Parker would count the seats of his first semester theater classes, trying to figure out how much he would have to charge per seat to make a living in the entertainment world.
The numbers didn’t look good and, after reading an article about Wall Street traders and seeing that they came from all walks of life, he decided to pursue business and finance.
“I found out that if you have a little cash in your pocket, you could become a trader,” Parker says. “I went to Wall Street and sought out how to become a trader.”
A Rock Star Lifestyle
With $12,000 to his name, and a bedroom at a hostel in the YMCA, Parker was set to take on the New York Stock Exchange.
He worked with D.H. Blair Investment Banking, but the venture only lasted three months.
“It was not a very polite firm and they just happened to go under when I was becoming a broker on Wall Street,” Parker says. “It was through that process that I realized I didn’t want to be on the phone not telling the truth.”
He then traveled to California to learn capital trading. In true Marty Parker fashion, he also picked up a side gig as the mascot for the San Francisco Giants.
“It was incredible, I was performing in front of 60,000 people,” Parker says. “It was a movie star-rock star lifestyle I lived for years.”
In 2011, the New York Stock Exchange pulled the servers from Parker’s firm, forcing him to once again reinvent himself.
Imagination Running Wild
After leaving the stock exchange, Parker dove into the world of interactive entertainment and hasn’t looked back.
He started out hosting Mud Ninja, a mud run, and brought the event back to the only place he could imagine hosting it – the family farm.
“It turned into the next eight years of my life doing the same thing over and over again,” Parker says. “Offering people the opportunity to live fulfilled, passionate lives by putting a date on the calendar and then giving them a customized experience through what happens next.”
These races catapulted Parker into one of his most noteworthy ventures – the world of escape rooms. After a conversation with one of his wife’s friends and a trip to California to see what an escape room was all about, Parker became inspired by his favorite TV show, The Walking Dead.
“I was driving back from a race and it just hit me dead on. … I laughed for about an hour straight in the car,” Parker says. “We could take a zombie, attach them to a chain and put him in the room and every five minutes the chain gets longer until the zombie reaches the door … unless you solved all the riddles and got the key to escape.”
Parker’s escape room, Trapped in the Room with a Zombie, operates in Chicago, Madrid, London and was even referenced on the tv show Big Bang Theory.
New to Dublin
Now that the Parkers live in the Dublin area, his daughter participates in the Dublin Jerome High School band and drama clubs and his son is involved with Boy Scouts.
“Every major parade, we’re there with Boy Scouts or the band,” Parker says. “And to me, that is what I love about it. I grew up in a small town and I protested a little bit when we moved here because I didn’t think we would get that same feel.”
He soon realized his preconceived notions were the opposite of how he feels now.
“When you’re driving through Greenfield, Ohio, you’re honking your horn at everyone,” Parker says. “I’ll tell you what, in Dublin when I go to Kroger, I see people I know. Panera, Giant Eagle, you name it. I still get what I wanted when I saw myself having a family.”
Parker is grateful for all the people he has met since settling in Dublin.
“The Dublin community, is a community for a reason,” Parker says. “People say, ‘Hey, I’m going to live here and make it great,’ and because of that you have some great administrators that are serious about their jobs.”
Rocco Falleti is an assistant editor. Feedback welcomed at rfalleti@cityscenecolumbus.com
