The city of Bastrop’s Convention and Exhibit Center set to open in spring 2011 already receiving bookings

By Terry Hagerty
Special Correspondent

The city of Bastrop’s Convention and Exhibit Center on Chestnut Street isn’t due to open until April 2011, but new executive director Kathy Danielson is already fielding calls about availability.

“You can’t book it yet,” Danielson said with a laugh as she sat in her office on Thursday afternoon at city hall offices on Main Street. “But we’re getting a lot of interest, from civic organizations and out-of-town calls, including an inquiry already from a trade show person.”

With much of the steel support framework still showing on the 26,000 square foot building, it is a good ways from being complete.

“Today was the first day I actually walked the facility with city building official Ted Bowers,” Danielson said. “I wore a hard hat and took pictures.”

Danielson, who was hired by the city on July 26, said she is already mapping out a strategy for marketing the $3.8 million convention center, as well as coordinating the everyday items to get it ready.  And she will soon have a fulltime assistant to help her, plus two more positions eventually – a maintenance person and a janitor.

She previously served as executive director of the Foley (Alabama) Convention and Visitors Bureau and was a special events director for the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce.

“The key for the convention center is to maintain a balance of having local civic and non-profit organizations able to use the facility, plus having more regional use, like trade shows and such,” Danielson said. “One of our missions is to bring in out-of-town meetings and trade shows so that those people spend at least a night here.”

That should lend to those visitors spending additional money at other Bastrop-area businesses, she added.

The main space of the convention and exhibit center will be flanked by four smaller conference rooms, all of which can open up and connect to the main floor for one continuous seating area, if needed, Danielson said.

The total capacity for the center will be about 1,000 theater-style seats, or 750 seats for banquet seating with tables, when the main space and all four rooms are opened up. All seating and tables will be portable, with the city able to provide them or renting parties able to bring their own style of portable seating if they want.

The center will also have a caterer’s kitchen available with refrigerators, sinks and microwave ovens.

“We will have a separate brides’ room available for weddings,” Danielson said.

A large lobby area and plenty of storage space round out the facility.