Demolition of the Executive Inn - Lastest News

Many of you have been wondering what is going to happen to the Executive Inn that is attached to the Julian Carroll Convention Center here in Paducah. Today Patrick Kerr wrote an article in the Center's Conventional Wisdom newsletter. I thought you would like to read the "real" word on what is happening.

The Demolition Of The Adjacent Hotel

The highlighted (pink) area shows the portion of the Hotel that is slated for demolition. 

The Convention Center, along with the River Ballrooms (formally the International Rooms) 

and all the upstairs meeting rooms will remain.

What’s the real story?
What’s coming down? What’s not?

It seems that just about everyone knows the Executive Inn Hotel, which is adjacent to the Julian Carroll Convention Center, is slated for demolition. However, there seems to be a fair amount of confusion as to exactly how the Hotel will be razed, when the demolition will begin and exactly what part will be torn down.

Because the Hotel is physically attached to the Convention Center, we thought we would take a few paragraphs to clear up some misconceptions and, more importantly, assure our clients and potential clients, that the Convention Center is here to stay, newly renovated and ready to host your next event!

So, let’s address those misconceptions one at a time: 

How Will The Hotel Be Demolished?

Here at Conventional Wisdom, we have heard everything from "blown up" to "pushed into the river." When all is said and done, the actual demolition of the Hotel will be pretty anti-climatic. Demolition will be done over the course of several months with clawed cranes and bulldozers. The work will begin at the Convention Center and construction crews will work their way toward the south parking lot near the Farmer’s Market downtown. The Hotel will not be imploded and it will take some time to complete the tear down.

When Will This All Start?

Razing of the Hotel will begin around the end of this summer. The first few days will be spent “surgically” removing the Hotel from the south wall of the Convention Center and then work will continue toward downtown. After the Hotel is separated from the Convention Center, repair work on the wall that connected the two buildings will begin. Disruption to the Convention Center will be minimal. Further, demolition work on the Convention Center end of the Hotel will not be done on days when meetings or events are being held in the facility. On those days, construction crews will do their best to keep the work on the far end of the site.

What’s Going To Happen To The “International Rooms?”

The simple answer is, Absolutely Nothing! If you take a look at the photo accompanying this article, you will see where Hotel demolition will begin. The old Silver Saddle also will be razed. The Convention Center, the Ballroom, the small meeting rooms across the hall, the Atrium Lobby, and the downstairs meeting rooms will not be torn down. As a matter of fact, if you haven’t been in the Convention Center in the last year or so, you probably haven’t seen the multi-million dollar renovation that includes the entire Convention Center space.

What Does All This Mean For The Convention Center?

In the long run, the Convention Center will be in great shape and will be an important part of a new complex that will include a first-class downtown hotel. In the short-term, the construction and demolition of the old Hotel will have very little impact on the Convention Center and will in no way hinder events already planned or future events that have been waiting to book because of the uncertainty surrounding the Hotel. 

And, so now you have heard the real story (article used with permission) about the demolition of the Executive Inn from J. Patrick Kerr, Executive Director of the Paducah-McCracken County Convention and Expo Center. That will be a step in the right direction.

Bonnie Browning
Executive Show Director, AQS

 

Update on the Arizon Pavilion in Paducah

I just received a new photo of the Pavilion being installed in Paducah.

They now have the doors and Arizon mechanicals in place in preparation for the installation of the Pavilion later this week.

The Arizon Pavilion is being built by Arizon Structures of St. Louis, MO.
Stay tuned - we'll post more photos as they become available.

Update on the New Pavilion in Paducah

This morning, Caryl Bryer Fallert took this photo of the first concrete truck arriving at the new Pavilion site here in Paducah; Caryl can see this site from her porch. They are pouring concrete for the floor for the Pavilion which will arrive later this month. Work is progressing slightly ahead of schedule, according to a report by Mark Thompson, Paducah Parks Department, at last week's City Commission meeting.

You can see from the photo that the new Pavilion will be located on the city side of the flood wall on the block where the AQS Bus Stop and Police trailer sat previously, right in front of the Executive Inn (now closed). The Bus Stop will be relocated to the opening in the flood wall at the entrance to the hotel.

We will post more photos as work progresses.

It is spring - that means there are many quilt shows. The AQS staff will be in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the week of March 22. Then just three weeks later, the 26th Annual AQS Quilt Show will open (April 21). It's a busy time and we hope to see you in Lancaster and/or Paducah.

Registration is open for the 26th Annual AQS Quilt Show in Paducah. You can register online or call the AQS Quilt Show office at 270.898.7903 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

January 4 - last day to enter the Paducah Quilt Contest

Entries for the AQS Quilt Contest in Paducah, Kentucky, must be postmarked today - January 4, 2010.

Here is the link to the rules if you need to print a copy:

http://www.americanquilter.com/documents/shows_contests/paducah/2010_paducah_rules.pdf

If you have any questions about the rules, please contact Erin Ulrich at erinulrich@AQSquilt.com .

Good luck with your entries!

Happy New Year from AQS

All of the staff at the American Quilter's Society wishes you a new year full of peace, happiness and lots of quilting. We hope to see you at one of our four shows this year - Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in March; Paducah, Kentucky, in April; Knoxville, Tennessee, in July; and Des Moines, Iowa, in October. Find all of the show information on our Web site...just click here.

Did you all see the Blue Moon on New Year's Eve? It was beautiful shining over the Mississippi River at Davenport, Iowa.

See you in 2010!

AQS Finalizes Plans for Paducah Quilt Show!

We promised we would let you all know more about the Paducah Quilt Show as soon as we had it. Below is the press release that was just sent to the media.

Now is the time to finalize your plans to come to the show April 21 - 24, 2010.


Press Release

American Quilter’s Society
Finalizes Plans for Paducah Quilt Show

Contact: Bonnie Browning, 270-898-7903, ext. 146
bonniebrowning@AQSquilt.com

Paducah, Kentucky – September 4, 2009: The American Quilter’s Society announced today that contracts have been finalized with hotels and convention facilities for the 26th Annual AQS Quilt Show & Contest in Paducah, to be held April 21 – 24, 2010. The Executive Inn attached to the convention center is now closed and will not be available during the April show.

The quilt show will be held at the Paducah Expo Center, the Julian Carroll Convention Center, and the new AQS Pavilion which will be located in the parking lot of the convention facilities. Quilt show admission will give access to viewing quilts and shopping the merchant malls in all three locations. Additional vendors and the AQS “Hurt” Book Sale will be held at the AQS Vendors on Kentucky in the Finkel Building (200 Kentucky Avenue in downtown Paducah). Special events will be held in the Carson Four Rivers Center (100 Kentucky Avenue).

The 2010 AQS Quilt Contest will award $125,000 in cash awards to quilters. Contest rules are available on the AQS Web site, www.AmericanQuilter.com. The registration guide will be available in early November. To order a printed registration guide, send $2.00 for each guide to: AQS, Attn: (name of show) Registration Guide, PO Box 3290, Paducah, KY 42002-3290.

For lodging, please contact the Paducah Visitors Bureau at www.paducah.travel, or 1-800-PADUCAH. The AQS Home Bed & Breakfast program will be coordinated by the Visitors Bureau, starting February 1, 2010.

Tour groups can contact Marcelle Cashon or Laura Davis for information on admission and ticket sales for the AQS Quilt Show & Contest by calling 270-898-7903.

In addition to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, AQS will produce three other international quilt shows in 2010: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March 24 – 27; Knoxville, Tennessee, July 14 – 17; and Des Moines, Iowa, October 6 – 9.

The AQS quilting community grows again! Quilters can now become fans of AQS on Facebook, and follow AQS on Twitter. Quilting information is also always available on the AQS Web site and the AQS Blogs (AQS Quilt News, AQS Publishing, and American Quilter Magazine).

###

Convention Center Remodeling Update

Yesterday we needed to measure a space in the Paducah Expo Center and I stopped to shoot a photo of the workers busy on the renovation of the Julian Carroll Convention Center. You can see this huge crane lifting parts of the heating/air conditioning units onto the roof. The parking lot was full of cars and trucks...so we know a lot was happening there.

We didn't want to interrupt the workers and did not go inside, but the supervisor told us they were busy working on drywall, painting, and ceiling tiles on the second floor. From the front doors, we could see the drywall dust in the air from sanding.

Next week we'll stop by late in the afternoon (after the workers have gone home) to shoot some photos to give you a look at their progress.

The Convention Center will be all new for the AQS Quilt Show in April. The ice storm only slowed them down by two days...so they are still right on target for their completion date.

Contest to Benefit the Quilt Museum

There is still time to enter one more AQS contest for the Paducah Quilt Show.

Each year AQS sponsors a quilt contest and the items are donated to the annual Quilt Auction in Paducah. The 2009 theme is Twenty-five in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the American Quilter's Society. Here is the link for the rules and entry form for this contest:

http://www.americanquilter.com/documents/shows_contests/paducah/09_25_rules.pdf .

The rules are easy - just make a quilt with 25 of anything — 25 blocks, 25 squares, 25 fabrics, 25 flowers — 25 of something. Each quilt must be constructed of fabric; be pieced, appliquéd, or use other quiltmaking techniques; and be quilted by hand, machine, or both. The minimum size is 30" on a side; there is no maximum size.

$1,000 in cash prizes are awarded to the winners in this contest. Send the completed "Twenty-five" quilt and entry form to AQS by by March 2, 2009.

These quilts will be displayed at the show until it's time for the auction on Thursday.

Good luck with your entry. If you have any questions, please call Mary Beth Head at 270-898-7903.

Reconstruction is Underway at the Convention Center!

Click on the photos for a larger image.

Today was a bright and very cold day (9 degrees) here in Paducah, and our staff went to the Julian Carroll Convention Center to see the progress being made on the reconstruction of the facility. We've all been waiting for these construction trailers to be parked in front of the center -- that means reconstruction work is underway!

We were all required to wear hard hats in the construction area. Here Terry Guill, Meredith Schroeder, and Rick Loyd discuss the some of the details related to the renovation of the Julian Carroll Convention Center with Downtown Development Director Steve Doolittle (blue jacket). I'm busy shooting some photos so you, too, can see what is happening. It was a slow start to this project but now work is well underway and Black & Sons Construction plans to have it all finished and ready for the arrival of the quilters in April.
.

We will all appreciate the new wider doorways into the classrooms, new lights everywhere, Smart Boards in the classrooms, new restroom facilities, and even some new sign holders marking the rooms making it easier to see what is being held in each room.

Scissor lifts make it easier to work on the ceiling of the exhibit hall. You can see why everyone wears the hard hats. There are many different groups of workmen working throughout the building and a construction zone like this is no place to take a chance. So that means we had "hat hair" for a while today! It was worth it to be able to show you what is happening.

Work progresses on raising the ceiling in this portion of the second floor of the convention center. That will add a lot more light to view the wall quilts that are exhibited in this area.

We'll have an updated report on the Executive Inn soon....stay tuned.

Bonnie Browning

Executive Show Director

Paducah Contest Deadline

The deadline for entering the AQS Quilt and Fashion Contests in Paducah, Kentucky, is nearing. In the rush of the holidays, don't forget to send your entries. Your entries (maximum of 2 per person) must be postmarked or received in the AQS office by January 5, 2009.

If you need a copy of the rules, just click on the title of this post and it will take you to the rules on the AQS Web site.

We are already processing entries, so you can send your entry any time. You don't need to wait for the deadline.

Good luck! Maybe you will be the Best of Show winner at the 25th Anniversary AQS Quilt Show!

Olfa Young Designer Okada Award at Paducah

Do you know any young quilt designers who are creating innovative quilts?

One of the categories in the Paducah Quilt Contest is Young Designer Quilts. The quilter can use any technique in making a fabric quilt in a unique interpretation. This category is open to ages 18 to 35 (determined on the opening day of the show). The judges will be looking for originality in this category.

There are some great awards for this category. All quilts in this category are eligible for the $5,000 Olfa Young Designer Okada Award. In addition, there will be 1st ($1,500), 2nd ($1,000), and 3rd ($750) places.

Pass the word around to your quilting friends and to your guild about this special contest geared to young quilters. They can't win if they don't enter.

The rules for the AQS Quilt Contest are available on our AQS Web site, www.AmericanQuilter.com. Just click on Shows & Contests and then choose the Paducah Quilt Show. The deadline for receiving contest entries (entry form and two digital images) is January 5, 2009...so there is still time to work on an entry.

If you have any questions about the Young Designer Quilts category or the Paducah Quilt Contest, please call the AQS office at 270-898-7903.