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May 03, 2024

Convention said to hinge on transportation

Pine Bluff has a shot at attracting a conference of 300 to 400 people, especially if the transportation piece can be figured out. Joseph McCorvey, executive director of the Pine Bluff Convention

Pine Bluff has a shot at attracting a conference of 300 to 400 people, especially if the transportation piece can be figured out.

Joseph McCorvey, executive director of the Pine Bluff Convention Center, told the Advertising and Promotion Commission on Monday he had been contacted by the Arkansas Head Start Association to host its winter 2024 conference, scheduled for late February and early March.

The group wanted to hold its meeting in Hot Springs, McCorvey said, but there was a conflict at that venue, leaving the association looking for other locations. Little Rock might have been an option, McCorvey said the association representative told him, but having conventions in the capital city is more expensive than other cities.

The problem with getting the association to Pine Bluff, he said, is that without a hotel next door to the Convention Center, attendees are sprinkled around town at other hotels and need a convenient way to get to their conference. Some attendees, he said, have their own transportation while others do not, meaning that if he can add in free shuttle service to what he can offer, he has a much better chance of landing the group.

"I think we have a very good chance of getting it," he said after the noon meeting with the A&P commissioners ended.

Several at the meeting suggested he talk to Pine Bluff Transit about providing the service, and McCorvey said he would do that, but he also said he has tried that before and was unable to secure the city's bus service.

As the short meeting adjourned, McCorvey was asked to keep members apprised of his efforts. By late afternoon, McCorvey said he had talked to Cassandra Shaw, director of Pine Bluff Transit and been told the service doesn't have enough resources or personnel to handle such an demand.

"I kinda knew that might be the case," McCorvey said. "They have to run their own routes for the city, and to ask them to take on that for a convention overtaxes their department."

McCorvey said he would investigate his options, adding that there are two bus services in the Little Rock area that could fill the needs of the convention-goers.

Even with paying an outside entity to take care of shuttling the visitors around, the city would come out ahead, he said.

"Three to 400 people here for three and a half to four days, that is a lot of people looking for places to eat and visit," McCorvey said. "I'll be out some additional expense, but those visitors will be staying in hotels and eating out, and the taxes on both go straight back to the A&P. You're spending it on one end but getting it back on the other."

McCorvey said an association representative had already been to Pine Bluff to look over the venue, and the person said the plan would be presented to its board on Sept. 13. If the trip to Pine Bluff gets the green light, McCorvey said he would reach out to restaurant owners and other venues to make the case for adjusting their hours of operation as a way to maximize the experience of the attendees.

"If all goes well, it's a win for the next event," he said. "People will say 'we had a great time in Pine Bluff,' and maybe they'll come back."

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