Meeting News - December 17, 2007 - (Page 36)

Destination Insider: Mississippi continued from page 34 of the effort will be kicking in over the next couple of years, according to Crystal Jones, director of sales for the CVB. “The Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center will reopen in January, after a huge renovation that will make it like new,” she said of the post-Katrina repair effort. “We will be hosting Travel South, a big travel industry show that attracts about 600 participants, which will be held at the convention center in January, and several other state and regional shows will be held there in 2008, so it will be significant to have our convention center up and running again.” The convention center is also undergoing a $68million expansion, Jones said, that will boost exhibition space from its current 180,000 sf to 350,000 sf. The expansion is set to open in 2009. Hotel meeting space will take a step upward with the opening of the Margaritaville Casino & Resort, which broke ground in August, Jones said. The property, a project of Harrah’s with musicianentrepreneur Jimmy Buffet, will have about 800 hotel rooms, a 100,000-sf casino, and a 66,000-sf conference center when it opens in 2010. part of the country. The Church of Christ Holiness is still headquartered in Jackson, but rotates its conventions to strategic locations throughout the nation (next year’s event will take place in Dallas). Yet, the meeting is in Jackson every ﬁve years. “We like Jackson because of a lot of factors: airlift, good facilities and accommodations, and most of all because the CVB gives us really close attention and does everything necessary to make our event a success,” Jenkins noted. “Good service from the CVB is very important when you are choosing a destination.” All of the sessions were held in Thalia Mara Hall, Jackson’s downtown public auditorium, home of the Jackson Ballet Guild and the USA International Ballet Competition. Jenkins said that although the auditorium ofﬁcially seats 2,362, it was a perfect fit for the organization’s 2,500-attendee event. Thalia Mara Hall is an easy walk from the 303room Jackson Marriott, which has 35,000 sf of meeting space and served as the headquarters hotel for the six-day convention. H —Section written by Rowland Stiteler Event Report Group Returns Home Religious group Church of Christ Holiness holds its annual in Jackson In the 110 years since the Church of Christ Holiness USA was founded, the nationwide organization has been holding annual conventions across the United States, but none was more memorable than this past July’s event in Jackson, according to Obadiah Jenkins, meeting and event planner for the 12,000-member church. “It was special because we held a reunion in which a lot of our longtime members who had not been to recent conventions came back home for this event,” said Jenkins, who explained that the church was founded in 1897 in Jackson and has grown to have congregations in virtually every Other cities build convention centers. Jackson’s building an entire convention district. With the 74,000-square-foot Mississippi TelCom Center now going strong in downtown Jackson, and the rest of the new Jackson Convention Complex set to open in early 2009, Jackson offers over 264,500 square feet of state-of-the-art conference and meeting space to host practically any event imaginable. Within the Convention District, you’ll also find plenty to keep delegates entertained, including the Mississippi Museum of Art, Davis Planetarium, Thalia Mara Hall for the Performing Arts, the nearby Fondren Renaissance District, live music, fine hotels, great restaurants, and more. And when you meet here, you’ll experience the hospitality that makes people want to come back time and time again. Call 1-800-354-7695 or visit our website for details. visitjackson.com TelCom Center photography by Jimmy Winstead. All other photography courtesy of JCVB. This project partially funded by the MS Development Authority/Tourism CITY 36 MeetingNews W I T H E X C I T E M E N T. CITY W I T H H O S P I TA L I T Y. CITY WITH SOUL. December 17, 2007 www.meetingnews.com http://visitjackson.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - December 17, 2007

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