Yes, because the one in Knoxville is so successful
People think Blount County has a strong market for an expo/convention center:
Traditional fairgrounds, the kind of places where you find county fairs and equestrian events, have given way to a more sophisticated type of community gathering spot: the expo center and arena.
After months of work, Charles Johnson, of Johnson Consulting Inc., gave Maryville, Alcoa and Blount County officials an idea Tuesday of what an expo park and arena offers this area, and how other communities are using them for their needs.
For the region’s equestrians, it could be a place for year-round shows. Roger Elder, a Blount County resident and president of Tennessee’s Quarterhorse Association, said there’s enough interest in horses here to keep such a facility busy all year.
“Within two years, we could book it every weekend,” said Elder.
An expo center and arena, with horse barns and adjacent softball and baseball fields, could host multiple community events, like high school graduations or year-round trade shows, according to Johnson. Some of the centers also include commercial venues, like retail stores and hotels.
Perhaps they should peruse the Knoxville Convention Center’s extremely sparse schedule?
Guys, you should try to take the airport back first.
August 25th, 2004 at 9:41 am
Yippeee! A rodeo!
August 25th, 2004 at 12:07 pm
Or the Shelby County Agricenter and Showplace Arena, which the County would like to sell off since it’s not profitable.
August 25th, 2004 at 12:58 pm
Apart from maybe the largest four or five cities in the country, it seems like every area has a convention center “crisis.” We need to build a bigger convention center, or expand the existing one, because right now we can’t get in on the conference game! But what most miss is that half the time, by the time you’ve built the expanded convention center, it’s still too small, and the other half the time, other problems get in the way: not enough hotel capacity in the immediate vicinity, for example, or the fact that your smallish or nonexistent convention center isn’t the primary reason why your area isn’t appealing to convention organizers.
If seen the “if you build it, they will come” thing fail in Milwaukee and in Cincinnati (twice). Despite a much larger, much newer convention center, Milwaukee still lost Gen*Con to Indianapolis, and hotel availability was a large factor (c’mon, Indy isn’t that much more interesting than Milwaukee, and I’d argue it’s less so, so it’s not like they moved to a sexier location). Cincinnati raised hotel taxes substantially to pay for a convention center expansion, thereby adding a disincentive to stay in Cincinnati, one of the stated reasons for wanting to expand the convention center.
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:56 am
[…] A couple of times, I’ve mentioned this proposal for a civic arts center in my hometown. I’ve said it’s a waste, won’t be successful and that it basically is a way for taxpayers to foot the bill for Maryville College. Well, it looks like this soon-to-be-known-as-a-colossal-failure is moving forward: The city of Maryville on Tuesday committed the first share of public funds toward construction of a $55 million civic arts center on the campus of Maryville College. […]