Full reopening plans for the Owensboro Convention Center as well as the Sportscenter will be submitted this week, according to Spectra General Manager Laura Alexander. Both venues have suffered a high number of cancelled events due to a lack of answers surrounding the future of mass gatherings.
Hank Phillips, president and CEO of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association, said he had not heard anything from the state regarding a plan for larger gatherings to take place.
“We’re only seeing July 1 for gatherings of 50,” Alexander said, referencing the guidelines that have been announced by Gov. Andy Beshear. “We’re having people cancel events for October and November because they don’t know if they can have events for more than 50 people.”
Many of the same clients who cancelled their large-scale events and conventions in Owensboro have gone across the Ohio River to hold them Evansville, Alexander said.
A large number of cancellations has stemmed from a lack of guidance and answers from the state, she added. Alexander said it would be better to know tentative plans in advance than wait longer for a fixed plan.
“It’d be better to know earlier, even if it’s not 100% certain,” she said. “We could [hold events with 50 or more people] healthier than most who are able to reopen with [gatherings of 50 or more].”
Phillips said he’s continually made it a point to Beshear’s team that the tourism industry needed answers, and that Alexander’s situation was a prime example as to why.
For the time being, Phillips encouraged Alexander to submit her reopening plan to the state’s Healthy at Work website to see if the Owensboro Convention Center and/or Sportscenter met the requirements needed to hold larger gatherings.
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