"The newest part of the Paducah McCracken County Convention and Expo Center in Paducah, Kentucky, is outside it. The 123-guest-room Holiday Inn Paducah Riverfront opened in late July, an addition that “allows us to get back into that market in a big way,” said Laura Oswald, director of marketing at the Paducah Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The hotel and the convention complex both sit on the banks of the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers in historic downtown, near the Lower Town Arts District.
The hotel has two meeting rooms; the largest, at 1,400 square feet, can accommodate up to 80 people and has as a full-service restaurant on-site. The hotel opened in time to host the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police, which “was a great debut for the hotel and how it can complement the meeting space,” she said.
Just steps from the hotel, the Paducah McCracken County Convention and Expo Center has over 90,000 square feet of function space under one roof. Its Julian Carroll Convention Center has 52,000 square feet of event space, including 13 breakout rooms and a flexible ballroom that can seat 800 at rounds or 1,900 in theater style. The expo area, called the Bill and Meredith Schroeder Expo Center, has nearly 40,000 square feet of exhibit space that can accommodate over 200 exhibit booths or that can be split into two halls.
The convention center also has a new team on board that is doing some in-depth planning about how to be competitive, Oswald said. The CVB is working with the convention center staff to be a “concierge” for everything Paducah has to offer to events and their attendees."
By Rachel Carter, Small Market Meetings
View this feature of Paducah among Kentucky cities enjoying convention center renaissance here!