The OAPN conference means more first-time visitors coming to a city that‘s been reinventing itself for the past 15 or so years, and is known for many things, like business and manufacturing, education, and art. Now, maybe conferences, too.
Since the opening of Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill, higher-profile conferences have chosen Hamilton to host their organizations, including in 2022, which saw more than 200 Model T Fords traversing Hamilton during the Model T Ford Club International’s 65th Annual Tour.
Two years later, the 54th biennial OAPFF conference brought in hundreds of firefighters from around Ohio, and the Alliance for Community Media Central States Conference attracted media professionals from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Fitton Center Executive Director Ian MacKenzie-Thurley has partnered with The Well House Hotel, which is part of Hilton’s Tapestry Collection, and the Courtyard by Marriott to bring this conference, which was last in Toledo and has been in cities like Cleveland, Dayton, Sandusky and Newark.
He said this conference is an “opportunity to show off” Hamilton, which has seen tremendous growth and development in the past two decades.
“We’re all very aware of the redevelopment, the growth, the resurgence of Hamilton, and now we can show ourselves to the great state of Ohio, and throughout the country,” MacKenzie-Thurley said. “We are a viable place for tourism, culture, business, and for those to come to have a great time.”
Jessica Rosenblatt, OAPN executive director, said they are “thrilled” to bring the conference to Hamilton and work with the Fitton Center and others from the city. She said around 200 people will be exposed to Hamilton, likely for the first time.
“The cool thing that we have with our conference is that we get to introduce people already from Ohio to new areas of the state that they might not have been to,” she said. “But we’re also bringing people from across the country and outside the country.”
Bands from countries such as Brazil, Australia and Canada have traveled to past OAPN conferences. Rosenblatt said these artists will likely return to Hamilton to perform in the future, whether at the Fitton Center or possibly at RiversEdge.
“It’s introducing people that might not have heard of Hamilton that are in Ohio to this cool community,” she said.
While the economic impact has yet to be calculated, it would be at least $100,000, where small businesses and restaurants will see an influx of people to Hamilton from Oct. 18 to 20, 2026.
“It’s one of the big things that conferences like these do,” Rosenblatt said.
The OAPN conference is a partnership with the city, Travel Butler County, the Fitton Center, the Courtyard by Marriott, and Well House Hotel. Partnerships like this will help the Well House, which opened in December, grow, said Catherine Rentschler, the hotel’s managing director.
“We don’t want to lose those opportunities to place bids,” she said. “I am a small boutique hotel, I have very limited meeting space on property, and so it just makes sense to partner with the Fitton Center, being just across the street, to allow us the opportunity to still bid on programs that require larger square footage.”
The South Monument Avenue corridor doesn’t receive the attention that other areas of downtown receive, and the hope is that an OAPN conference and future conferences will provide the exposure to draw that attention.
“The Well House is continuing to build on its initial success over the past several months, and having exposure to organizations like this is only helping Hamilton as a whole because we’re continuing to introduce a new group of travelers and visitors to Hamilton,” Rentschler said.
Tracy Kocher, Travel Butler County president and CEO, said Hamilton is “fueled by creativity and collaboration” and provides OAPN attendees a chance for “immersive art and education experiences” as the city has “a vibrant arts scene and strong community partnerships.”
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