[Nodxa] Hara Arena Closing/ HamVention is Moving

[Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)]

Hi Fellow DXers,
Just received the following two messages..... 73 de Tedd KB8NW

Message #1
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Dayton  Hamvention® 2017 News Update

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) regrets to inform our many 
vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, HARA has 
announced the closing of their facility.  We have begun execution of our 
contingency plan to move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home.

DARA and Hamvention® have enjoyed many successful years working together 
with HARA Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best.

DARA and Hamvention® have been working on a contingency plan in the 
event HARA would become unavailable. We have spent many hours over the 
last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the 
area we believe will be a great new home! Due to logistics and timing 
issues, we will make a formal announcement introducing our new partner. 
This information will be coming soon. We all believe this new venue will 
be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event. Please rest assured we 
will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the 
region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned 
for Hamvention 2017 should not be affected.

We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future 
with The Dayton Hamvention®.

Ron Cramer
General Chairman
Dayton Hamvention 2017

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Message #2
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Hamvention® has announced that Hara Arena, the home of Hamvention since
1964, is closing. Hamvention 2017 will be held at a new location in the
Dayton area, yet to be disclosed. “The Dayton Amateur Radio Association
(DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders
that, unfortunately, HARA has announced the closing of their facility,”
a news release from Hamvention General Chair Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, said
today (July 29). “We have begun execution of our contingency plan to
move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home. DARA and Hamvention have enjoyed
many successful years working together with HARA Arena and we wish the
Wampler family the best.”

According to Cramer, DARA and Hamvention have been working on a
contingency plan in the event that the deteriorating Hara Arena ever
should become unavailable. “We have spent many hours over the last few
years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we
believe will be a great new home!” The announcement said that DARA and
Hamvention expect to make a formal announcement soon “introducing our
new partner.”

“We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our
beloved event,” Cramer said. “Please rest assured we will have the
event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the
current accommodations and outside events already planned for
Hamvention 2017 should not be affected.”

“We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future
with The Dayton Hamvention.”

A hockey team’s cancellation of its upcoming season earlier this month
had raised questions about the future availability of Hara Arena for
Hamvention®. Hara Arena has been facing long-standing financial
problems — including unpaid property taxes. Renovations promised for
the 2016 Hamvention never materialized.

Hamvention attracted more than 25,000 visitors this spring and is worth
millions of dollars to the Dayton area economy.

The Wampler family has owned and operated Hara Arena since its humble
origins in the 1950s, when Wampler Ballarena — then a dance hall and
now an exhibit hall familiar to Hamvention visitors — was built in what
had been a family-owned orchard.

-- 
Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses:
<kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org> <kb8nw at hotmail.com> <kb8nw at arrl.net>
Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence)
President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA)
DX Chairman for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society
ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division
Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG)