Nice timing. To piggyback off yesterday's post about all the performing acts set to appear in St. Paul in July, I received a press release highlighting even more activities and conventions that will make July 2009 a record month for the capital city. “This will be our biggest July ever both in terms of the number of visitors coming to St. Paul to attend these events and the economic impact generated,” says Karolyn Kirchgesler, President and CEO of the Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Authority.
+ Four major conventions will be in town: Polaris Industries (July 16-24), Desire2Learn FUSION Art of Learning Conference (July 13-16), 2009 Freedom Cup (July 10-16) and Acrobatic Gymnastics Junior Olympic National Championships (July 10-16).
+ Held in the Xcel Energy Center, Roy Wilkins Auditorium and Saint Paul RiverCentre, these events are expected to bring 6,000 visitors to the city and utilize 7,200 room nights.
+ These thousands of visitors have much excitement in store for them with Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at the Science Museum of Minnesota, Cirque du Soleil's KOOZA, and the Landmark Center's special series of events chronicling the city's gangster history to correspond with the Johnny Depp flick, Public Enemies.
+ And the future brings more excitement, according to the press release: "The Saint Paul CVA is continuing to draw first-time business from groups such as the Institute of Electronic and Electric Engineers Conference on Robotics and Automation, American Fisheries Society and the Association of Children’s Museums, all of which will convene in 2012. All told, the city has 121 future events, meetings and conventions on its books which will draw more than a million visitors, fill 116,000 room nights and generate an estimated economic impact of $37 million."
-- Amanda Fretheim Gates
Managing Editor
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