Annual shows forced to find new venues, close after losing event center space

Dec. 8—Kokomo is set to lose its largest event space next year, bringing to an end some the city's biggest shows and conventions that drew tens of thousands of visitors to the county.

The Kokomo Event and Conference Center in October announced on Facebook it will no longer hold large events starting in January. Instead, the 40,000-square-foot facility will be used for commercial space.

The building currently houses the outdoor and sporting goods store SoreMouth Tackle; The Outlet Kokomo, a mattress and furniture store; and Simply Tasty, which sells jam, caramels and other food.

Manager Tricia Frazier in the post called it a "bittersweet" decision that came after her father, Vernon Graves, who owned the business with her and her brother, passed away in January.

"I want to start off by saying 'Thank you Kokomo' for supporting our family-owned, local business," she wrote in the post. "My family and I have invested a lot of time and energy here to make every event successful over the past 5 1/2 years."

Frazier said her family brought new events to Kokomo, as well as revived some older events, and wished all the former events that rented the facility success as they try to find a new event space.

Those longtime events that are now looking for new locations or canceling their shows include the Kokomo Gun and Knife Show, Colosseum Combat, the Wild Indiana Outdoor Expo and Shipshewana On The Road.

KokomoCon had also rented the facility for the past 12 years. Event organizer Shawn Hilton said it was a blow when he learned earlier this year they would have to find a new space.

"It was a bummer," he said. "We had such a good relationship there, and the facility itself was absolutely perfect for what we do. There's nothing that's as big as it, that's as centrally located as it, and also covers chairs, tables, the whole nine yards."

Now, the local comics convention that would draw up to 1,500 out-of-town visitors to the city every year is massively downsizing. Hilton said they are leasing the 2,000-square-foot space at the Baymont Inn and Suites in March to hold a much smaller event.

"Personally, I really wish they would have kept it," he said about the Kokomo Event Center. "I would have kept holding conventions there until I died. But for them, I can see that it's a lot of work, a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of headaches. So no hard feelings."

However, Hilton said, he's sure the city is set to feel the economic impact and see a decline in revenue from the local innkeepers tax after losing the only facility large enough to bring major events to Kokomo.

Sherry Matlock, manager of the Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau, said losing the facility for events will "certainly have an impact on the community."

She said the bureau has already worked with one organizer of a large, annual event to find alternative locations.

"The Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau is happy to assist event and meeting organizers with alternative options, as we regularly assist those looking to find venues in the Kokomo area to host tradeshows, events, meetings, etc.," Matlock said in an email.

But alternative locations that can hold major events are in short supply in the county. Hilton said the only location he knows of are some of the buildings at the Howard County Fairgrounds in Greentown.

That has some organizers looking toward the completion of the long-anticipated downtown hotel and conference center to bring their events back to the city.

The project's original developer, Dora Hotel Company, is back at the table after the project went through two other developers. Most recently, the pandemic has thrown kinks into development of the project, which was first announced in 2018.

Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman said officials are in talks with the preferred developer on the project, but no details are available on any timeline for when work might begin.

However, with the news about the Kokomo Event and Conference Center, officials have new motivation to continue pushing forward on the project, he said.

"Anytime you see something like this happen, it makes you pause," Wyman said. "But it also makes us focus on ensuring that we continue to do things in our community to attract people, and this hotel and conference center is at the top of that list."

Even when the project is finished, it still won't be as big as the event center.

Matlock said the proposed downtown conference center is approximately 13,000 square feet, but that could be changed. That number includes both a main ballroom and additional meeting room space in multiple smaller rooms.

According to a state READI grant proposal submitted by the city and county, the conference center could be up to 44,000 square feet, but that includes housing the Kokomo Automotive Museum.

Wyman said he believes the downtown convention center will be able to pick up most of the events that were held at the Kokomo Event Center, while also attracting new ones that require a hotel to be near or attached to the conference space.

But until it's open, major events that served as an economic boost to the city will have to wait or move on from Kokomo.

On top of losing events, the city and county will no longer be able to use the facility for vaccination or testing clinics during the pandemic. It will also no longer serve as a temporary triage point during natural disasters, like it did during the 2016 tornado.

Wyman said the facility will be removed from the county's disaster plan, but said other locations already listed in the plan will be sufficient to accommodate any needs during a disaster.

The building was owned by the Howard County Automotive Heritage Museum & Civic Center until 2011, when it was deeded to the Howard County Board of Commissioners. They, in turn, deeded it to Ivy Tech Kokomo.

In 2016, Kokomoecc LLC, operated by Vernon Graves, Vernon Jr. and Tricia Graves Frazier, purchased the facility from Ivy Tech.

Carson Gerber can be reached at 765-854-6739, carson.gerber@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter @carsongerber1.