Event Consulting & Creative Studio · Spruce Pine, NC
Creating Experiences That Endure
Three Locks partners with communities, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations across Western North Carolina to plan meaningful events and build brands that last.
About
About Three Locks
Three Locks is an event consulting and creative studio based in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, built on a simple belief: the best work strengthens communities, celebrates place, and stands the test of time.
The studio partners with communities, nonprofits, municipalities, and mission-driven organizations across Western North Carolina to plan and manage events, develop destination marketing, and build brands and creative work that support something bigger than themselves. Whether launching a new festival, building a destination marketing campaign, or developing a brand identity for an organization figuring out who it really is, the work always centers on people and place.
Nothing Three Locks builds is meant to stand alone. The work only matters if it does something for the place it’s built for, strengthens the community, supports the local economy, and gives people something to be proud of.
The locks that inspired the name are gone. What they represented, craftsmanship, purpose, and work built for its place, still stands. Three Locks carries that same idea forward.
Our Name
Tomlinson’s Three Locks
The Ohio & Erie Canal operated through the 19th century, connecting the Ohio River to Lake Erie and lifting boats hundreds of feet in elevation through a system of hand-built stone locks.
One set of these, known as Tomlinson’s Three Locks, stood just south of Chillicothe, Ohio, built in the early 1830s as Locks 41, 42, and 43. The three chambers worked in sequence to move boat traffic through the Scioto Valley, engineered by hand to solve a real problem: how to move people and goods through a landscape that didn’t make it easy. The locks no longer stand, but the road built alongside them, Three Locks Road, still runs through Franklin Township in Ross County, Ohio.
Founder Spencer Bost’s family has lived along that road for seven generations, working the same land the canal once cut through. Growing up there shaped how he sees the world: a respect for hard work, a connection to the land, and a belief that place and heritage are worth taking seriously.
It’s a fitting namesake for a company built around place and the stories tied to it. Three Locks takes its name from that history. The locks themselves are gone. What they represented, craftsmanship, purpose, and work built to last, still stands. That’s the idea Three Locks is built on: preserving and celebrating the culture and heritage of the places it works, and building things meant to endure long after the work is done.
Founder
Spencer Bost
Founder &
Managing Member
Spencer attended Appalachian State University, studying Parks and Recreation Management with a minor in Sustainable Development, then worked as a park ranger with the National Park Service and North Carolina State Parks before moving into downtown revitalization and economic development.
Festivals and events have been the throughline of his career. As Director of the Spruce Pine Main Street program, he helped the town earn Accredited Main Street status and grew the Fire on the Mountain Blacksmith Festival, one of the largest blacksmithing festivals on the East Coast, alongside recurring programming like Third Thursdays, a downtown market and concert series. He also built the NC Hellbender Festival from the ground up, handling sponsorship, band booking, vendor management, and full production for an event that drew more than 5,000 attendees and generated over $386,000 in economic impact in its first year.
He most recently served as Director of Parks, Recreation & Tourism for the Town of Spruce Pine, overseeing park operations, recreation programming, and seasonal staffing.
That range, festival production, event logistics, sponsorship development, grant writing, and destination marketing, is what Three Locks brings to every project.
Services
What We Do
From first concept to on-site leadership, Three Locks offers event consulting as its specialty, backed by destination marketing, creative services, and community development work.
Primary Service
Event Consulting & Management
Our specialty. From first concept through on-site leadership.
- Festival planning
- Event management
- Logistics
- Vendor coordination
- Sponsorship strategy
- Volunteer management
- Site planning
- Operations
- Event production
- On-site leadership
Destination Marketing
Helping places tell stories that are as authentic as the people who call them home.
- Tourism strategy
- Community promotion
- Visitor experiences
- Campaign development
Creative Services
Creative work made to solve a problem and support a mission, not just look good.
- Brand identity
- Graphic design
- Photography
- Videography
- Drone photography
- Website design
- Print design
- Social media
- Marketing materials
Community Development
Helping communities activate places through events, partnerships, storytelling, and strategic creative work.
- Public space activation
- Partnership development
- Community programming
- Placemaking strategy
Who We Work With
Mission Over Industry
Three Locks partners with organizations that believe their work should leave a place better than they found it.
Government & Tourism
Land & Outdoors
Community & Business
Contact
Start a Conversation
Have a project, event, or organization in mind? Reach out and let’s talk about what Three Locks can build for it.