[SMCARA] Dayton HamventionR and HARA

[JD Delancy]

 From the ARRL news 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/dayton-hamvention-moving-to-greene-county-fairgrounds-in-xenia>

Dayton Hamvention Moving to Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia

08/01/2016

*[UPDATED 08-01 at 2033 UTC]* “X” marks the spot! *Hamvention* 
<http://www.hamvention.org/>/®/ announced today that it will be moving 
to the *Greene County Fairgrounds and Event Center 
<http://www.greenecountyfairgrounds.com/index>* in Xenia, Ohio, after 52 
years at Hara Arena. That’s about 16 miles east of Dayton center off US 
Route 35 (see map). Hara Arena announced last week that it would be 
closing, and Hamvention indicated that it soon would be announcing its 
back-up plan for a new venue in the Dayton area.

“We appreciate and value all the time and effort of the many partners, 
in particular the Greene County Agricultural Society, the Greene County 
Board of Commissioners and the Greene County Convention & Visitors 
Bureau has put into helping Hamvention find the right venue to continue 
our long history here in the Miami Valley,” Hamvention General Chair Ron 
Cramer, KD8ENJ, said. “We look forward to a long and mutually prosperous 
relationship.”

Last week, after Hara Arena announced it would close, Cramer had said, 
“We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible 
locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new 
home! We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold 
our beloved event. Please rest assured we will have the event on the 
same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current 
accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention 2017 
should not be affected.”

Hamvention chief spokesman and board member Mike Kalter, W8CI, told ARRL 
today that announcement of the new venue came a bit sooner than he’d 
anticipated last week. He pointed out that the event annually attracts 
in excess of 25,000 visitors from every US state and some 60 countries 
around the world.

“The key thing is that we plan to have a 5-star event,” he said of 
Hamvention 2017. “We’ll put a lot of time and energy into it.”

The move to Xenia could prove to be a huge financial bonanza for the 
city and Greene County. Hamvention typically has meant millions of 
dollars to the Dayton/Montgomery County area, and some of that benefit 
now could migrate eastward down US 35. Kalter conceded that the new 
venue in Greene County is a slightly longer drive from Dayton City 
Center -- where some Hamvention-related events traditionally occur -- 
than it was to Hara Arena, but he believes it will be worth the trip.

“Montgomery County didn’t have anything for us,” he said. “We looked 
exhaustively. We’ve known this is what we’d do for about a month — if 
Hara Arena would no longer be available.”

And the flea market at the new site? “Our plan is to have a much better 
flea market,” Kalter said. “We have two or three different options, but 
we think people are really going to like it.”

He said the entire fairgrounds facility was rebuilt several years ago 
after it was destroyed by a tornado, so the buildings are newer than 
Hara, which was built in the 1950s. He said there will be opportunities 
to bring in campers — with 30 A service, water, and sewer available.

Kalter believes the change in venue in and of itself will be a big 
incentive for a lot of people who may be just thinking about attending 
Hamvention 2017 right now. “We expect next year to be a /big/ year,” he 
said. “We expect a lot of people to come to see what it’s like.”



On 07/30/2016 01:13 PM, JD Delancy wrote:
> From the official Dayton Hamvention Website; obtained from Facebook 
> Ham Radio Operators group, 29Jul16
>