the absence of President Jeff Sechrest, called the meeting to order,
recognizing the two first time attendees, Daniel Bagby of Prologue &
Marie Cruz of JCI, before calling on Programs Chair Allen Hurt who
announced November's meeting at Bogeys Sports Park (near the
Field Day of the Past site in Centerville) to be followed by our Holiday
Party at Luck Stone in December. Allen then called upon me to intro-duce
Jack Berry, President and CEO of Richmond Region Tourism,
our host and speaker for the evening.
Jack took us back to the late 1990's, covering
much of the information I mentioned above from
our two earlier meetings, noting how the Authority and funding had been
put together from the State and four jurisdictions and the Downtown site
selected and assembled in what was then a distressed area. As had hap-pened
in the other cities that he cited (including Washington, Baltimore,
and Philadelphia) extensive development near the new Convention Cen-ter
soon followed as we have seen to the tune of almost $2 billion in our
Theater District, Jackson Ward, & Biotech Park. He then mentioned the
long list of meetings and activities that are held at the big facility, some-times
as many as seven simultaneously, noting that the development of
Sports Tourism activities has probably been the biggest area that had been unforeseen at the
beginning. The U.S. Fencing Team's Olympic Trials prior to the last Summer Games, and large
volleyball tournaments drawing teams from across the nation were noted as sports activities
have become some of their biggest customers.
Jack also had provided us with copies of his group's latest Annual Report with his comments in
it headed by “While you weren't looking, Richmond got cool.” Noting the Capital Trail, our bur-geoning
Craft Beer & Food scene, Civil War historic sites, Museums, and the area's numerous
other attractions, he cited lots of statistics that led to seven million visitors spending $2.2 billion
in the most recent year. After a few questions, answers, and discussion, Jack led us out of our
meeting room, down the Atrium a few doors to look into one of the main Exhibit Halls which was
cleared and starting to be made ready for its next event. Then on down the Atrium and up the
escalator to the Food Court area, ending up in an area where a Human Resources Association
had their exhibit area set up for a convention they were having the following day. Some final
questions and discussion of the carpeting used in that area, and its similarity to that found in the
Washington, D.C. Convention Center.
That wrapped things up, with Jack directing those of us that had parked in the 3rd St. deck down
a block long corridor to a door right into the 2nd level there. A BIG THANK YOU to him for host-ing,
speaking, and guiding us at an excellent meeting at which all of us were impressed at the
job his TOURISM
group is doing in get-ting
Richmond up
near the top of a num-ber
of Travel Destina-tion
& Tourism lists
with a big backlog of
future meetings, con-ventions,
and tourna-ments
booked for the
future.
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