Thanks to the Topsail area’s history, charm and fiscal headway, an Internet adventure-travel series will thrust Pender County into the national spotlight when it films for the first time in North Carolina.

Part life-size trivia game, part philanthropic effort and part travel show, Fireball Run (streaming at fireballrun.com) will make a two-day pit stop in Pender County in late September. The 2000-mile “adventurally” will follow more than 40 teams of drivers and navigators – consisting of celebrities, business tycoons, astronauts and others – on an eight-day quest from Hartford, Connecticut, to Cocoa Beach, Florida. 

Pender County tourism director Tammy Proctor described the show as 75 percent travelogue and 25 percent history, with a viewership of 4 million people. Proctor added that the number of viewers is expected to greatly increase, following the recent partnership between the Fireball Run and on-demand streaming provider Netflix.

Proctor continued to say that each episode showcases the region where the Fireball Run stops, which will lend national exposure to Topsail Island and the surrounding areas.

“It’s a win-win for our community,” Proctor said. “And I don’t mean just Topsail but for the region as a whole.”

Fireball Run executive producer J.J. Sanchez said that an episode’s production value for each featured destination is substantial, with the series generating “nearly $56 million in valuable exposure.” As one of the eight highlighted destinations on the 2015 Fireball Run Space Race, the Topsail area will get nearly “44 [episode] minutes dedicated to it.”

“It will cost our production approximately $350,000 to produce the Topsail episode,” explained Sanchez. “The destinations are not responsible to the production costs. Their responsibilities are purely hospitality based. The production value does not include the exposure/distribution value, which is in the tens of millions.”

While production costs aren’t incurred by the destination, related expenses are involved. Pender chamber officials noted in a statement that the community would be responsible to set staging, lighting and sound, plus a Mayor’s Reception.

“We estimate the cost to total $24,000 in food, banners, staging, etc,” chamber officials said. “This cost can be reduced by in-kind donations.”

As the home to Operation Bumblebee (the U.S. Navy’s secret guided missile testing program that operated on Topsail Island from 1946 to1948) and the birthplace of rocket technology, Topsail Island seemed a fitting choice for the 2015 “Space Race” theme. What also grabbed the production’s attention, Sanchez said, was “its quality of life and economic progression.”

With the area’s beaches and show-related history taking center stage, Proctor mentioned that the Internet show has developed a following, where fans recreate past runs and visit locations from the series’s previous eight seasons. What’s more, Fireball Run teams and production crew will stay in local beach rentals and hotels during the Sept. 29-30 visit, boosting area tourism dollars directly.

“They’ve really developed a [strong] following, and they’re seeing that people will take the same journey,” Proctor said. “Families will recreate the route and stay in some of those same places.”

But there’s more to the Fireball Run than potentially boosting local economies – it also raises awareness of missing children. As of press time, Sanchez said that Fireball Run has helped recover 44 missing children nationwide.

“This number may increase to 45. We are waiting on confirmation our efforts contributed to a recent recovery,” Sanchez said.

Each participating run-team is assigned a child missing in the United States. On each run – which changes locations and routes annually – teams blanket the country with missing child posters in hopes that someone will recognize the kids.

“The production brings crowds, media and publicity, which is constantly focused on our philanthropic efforts,” Sanchez said. “If we can recover 44 kids with an eight-day production, just think of how many kids could be helped by NASCAR if they chose to place a child on all of their vehicles.” 

In addition to the charity benefit of the run, Proctor touts yet another value of the upcoming event – the opportunity to expose business leaders to the area. The 2015 run – as with past Fireball Runs – will include high-profile executives, state representatives and the like.

“This year’s participants include three international astronauts, one American astronaut, several major developers, the owner of the Solo Cup Co., a trucking and hauling business owner, a former NFL player who is now a developer … and a Hollywood producer, just to name a few,” Proctor said. “This [will expose] captains of commerce to our area and our state and local government.”

Kicking off Sept. 25 in Hartford, this year’s race will pit the four astronauts from four nations against the 40 multinational driving teams (which can be viewed on the series’s website). The route then stops in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland; Williamsburg, Virginia; Topsail Island; Florence, South Carolina; and Liberty County, Georgia, before ending Oct. 3 with a parade finish in Cocoa Beach.