The Great Bend Convention Center has been renamed as the Great Bend Events Center for a couple of years now, but one of its prime objectives is to still attract conventions.
Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau Director Christina Hayes says that has not been easy with a nonoperational hotel next door. The Great Bend Hotel and Convention Center to the east has been closed for years and has struggled even when it was open.
Christina Hayes Audio
The Events Center, at 3111 10th Street, has hosted several wedding receptions, meetings, fundraiser dinners, and other events but the large convention that brings a lot of people into town has mostly eluded the City of Great Bend.
Hayes says the North American Falconers Association wants to bring their annual conference to Great Bend next November. Falconers use live falcons as hunting tools, sending the birds out to snatch up prey.
Christina Hayes Audio
Hayes noted they are still working out the details to bring NAFA to Great Bend, but Cheyenne Bottoms was a big factor in attracting them to central Kansas. Hayes expected anywhere from 150 to 275 falcon hunters and their families to show up for the week.