Extra tourist dollars will flow into the Salt Lake area as a result of this weekend's successful bidding for two big conventions.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention will bring 20,000 delegates here in 1997, and the International Law Enforcement Olympics will attract 7,000 police officers in 1996."It was a $15 million weekend for us," exulted Jeri Cartwright, director of communications for the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. She was referring to the amount of money the two gatherings are projected to pump into the local economy.
Bureau representatives, Salt Lake County Commissioner Jim Bradley and Lt. Gov. Val Oveson lobbied in Washington, D.C., with the sales staffs of both conventions to win the bids.
Adding support were three deputies from the Salt Lake County sheriff's office, a Salt Lake City police officer, five Utah VFW volunteers and the national chaplain for the VFW, Boyd Winterton, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cartwright said police olympics organizers were impressed with the area's amenities and their proximity to hotels. Many of the group's convention activities resemble the U.S. Summer Olympics, she said. They need such things as shooting galleries, tracks and fields for athletic competitions and places for events involving SWAT teams and police dogs.
The VFW bid was a hard-won victory since Salt Lake City was competing with six "first-tier" convention cities: Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Denver and St. Louis. Salt Lake City generally is considered a "second-tier" city in the convention business.
Philadelphia also offered the VFW organization a $150,000 cash incentive. The Salt Lake bureau originally had only $15,000 to offer but asked area businesses to chip in more to create a $60,000 cash incentive, said Richard Davis, president and CEO of the convention bureau.
Additionally, the Utah VFW members campaigned heavily to persuade national organizers to bring the event here, despite the fact that a VFW committee had opted for Philadelphia.
Davis said there had been concerns that the next few VFW conventions will be in other Western cities, so an Eastern city was favored for 1997.
The lobbying paid off: the VFW governing council overruled the committee and chose Salt Lake City.
Revved up by these successes, convention bureau representatives are going after the American Bowling Congress next week in Corpus Christi, Texas. That would bring 41,000 bowlers here for a tournament series running from February through June in 1996.
That could have a $24 million impact on the local economy.