PROVIDENCE – Last weekend, construction officials and general contractors roamed exhibit halls at the R.I. Convention for the JLC Live convention, which featured conference sessions, company exhibits, and building clinics.
Approximately 4,000 builders, remodelers and crews from across the New England region attended the three-day event from Aug. 12 through Aug. 14. The event generated more than $1.2 million in direct spending into the state’s economy, according to information from the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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The event was significant for the state. It was the first convention held at the R.I. Convention Center since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
For much of the pandemic, the convention center had been converted to into a 600-bed alternative hospital for COVID-19 patients, accepting its first patients in December 2020.
Optimism was high in the spring with convention organizers looking toward August and beyond to revitalize large events in the state after being dark for nearly a year and a half due to the pandemic. But the delta variant, which has caused another surge in the state, has brought new concerns.
However, local convention organizers say many large-scale events that are slated to take place across Rhode Island, including at the R.I. Convention Center and Dunkin’ Donuts Center, from now until the end of 2021 are moving forward as planned, but they are proceeding with caution.
PWCVB CEO and President Kristen Adamo told Providence Business News this week she is optimistic that the scheduled large events will proceed based on the state’s high vaccination rate. She said the event organizers will look at the calendar and see what space availability there is in the event some shows have to get cancelled or rescheduled to a future date. However, she senses that conventions are itching to get together and meet.
“These groups want to meet,” Adamo said. “They haven’t met in some cases almost two years. We’re in a safer part of the country. It’s been closed down and we’ll deal with it the way we’ve had. But, we’re moving forward with business as usual.”
Thomas Riel, PWCVB’s vice president of sales and service, said the 48 events the bureau has helped book both inside the convention center, such as Rhode Island Comic Con in November, and beyond are scheduled to proceed between now and the end of 2021. That does not include the Bridal Expo and the Rhode Island Home Show – both scheduled for the fall – as those are considered “public shows” and do not have hotel rooms attached to those events, Adamo said. Riel said only four small events, which were to have less than 100 people, withdrew their request for event proposals due to the delta variant concerns.
Most of the upcoming scheduled events are coming in at 50% attendance of what was contracted, Riel said. For example, the JLC Live event normally draws in 10,000 people into the state and it was 40% that last weekend. But, considering how events have been nonexistent since March 2020, any number higher than zero is an improvement.
“We are delighted to be open,” Riel said.
Sporting events at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, such as the Providence Bruins – which played in Marlborough, Mass., last year – and the Providence College men’s basketball team, are scheduled to be at “full bore” starting in October and November, according to R.I. Convention Center Authority Executive Director Daniel McConaghy. He too said while there is some more nervousness and dialogue being had regarding the delta variant, the authority is “staying the course.”
McConaghy said event organizers are working with each show individually on what they would want for safety measures. Reil said JLC Live brought its own safety plans for its event, which included electronic registration only, a touchless process and spaced-out exhibits that the convention center assisted with organizing.
McConaghy also said the venue is capable of requiring proof of vaccination and/or a recent negative COVID-19 test as a means for show admittance, but such measures will only be implemented only if the show’s promoter or agent requires it.
“For instance, some of the musicians may want that in order to feel comfortable to play. If the promoter is going to require it, then we’re going to enforce that on their behalf,” he said. “If they don’t and the governor [Daniel J. McKee] and/or [R.I. Department of Health] says we don’t have to do that, then we’re not going to do it.”
Both Adamo and McConaghy said all events will follow safety recommendations from the state and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and safety policies in attending the shows are subject to change depending on what directives the state plans to enforce.
“We’ll be ready to handle that. It would not surprise me that we have to make some adjustments here and there based on the tone of the conversations. We want to remain nimble and have the ability to adjust to requirements as they come,” McConaghy said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
