Sacramento’s biggest convention will move from the convention center to make way for the expansion project
Sacramento, Calif. – Visit Sacramento and Cal Expo announced today that the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, the region’s largest convention, will stay in Sacramento through 2020, moving to Cal Expo that year while the convention center is closed for expansion. The event brings more than 14,000 people to the region and fills more than 70 percent of the rooms in the city and unincorporated county hotels.
“The impact of the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in our region cannot be overstated,” said Visit Sacramento President & CEO Mike Testa. “This influential event brings thousands of industry leaders to our city who are funneling millions of dollars into our tourism economy. We’re incredibly grateful to the organizers for seeing the value of Sacramento and sticking with us through the expansion project. We look forward to working with them for years to come.”
“Cal Expo as a premier agricultural showcase is excited to host the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in 2020,” says Rick Pickering, CEO and General Manager of Cal Expo and State Fair. “We look forward to working with Unified to make the transition extremely smooth and the 2020 show a huge success.”
Beyond the change of location to Cal Expo in 2020, the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium will also change its timing that year, moving from its traditional January schedule to February. Cal Expo is serving as one of several key host locations for major convention business like the Unified Wine & Grape event during the convention center expansion and renovation project, which will shut down the building in 2020. Visit Sacramento is working with venues like Cal Expo to ensure that critical convention business – and the associated tourism revenue – stays in Sacramento throughout the expansion project.
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About Visit Sacramento
Visit Sacramento is a non-profit, destination marketing organization funded by the City of Sacramento, the County of Sacramento a local hotel self-assessment and business membership throughout the greater Sacramento region. As the premier economic development and services organization for the region's convention and tourism industry, Visit Sacramento develops and executes sales, marketing and customer service programs to help strengthen the regional economy, as well as the bottom lines of our member businesses and marketing partners. Brands operating under the Visit Sacramento umbrella include America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, Sacramento Sports Commission (Sac Sports), Sacramento365 (a joint partnership with Convention & Cultural Services and the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission), Sacramento Film Commission (Film Sacramento) and Sac Event Crew.
About the California State Fair
The California State Fair is an international award-winning fair, receiving top honors at the International Association of Fairs and Expositions out of more than 1,100 fairs world-wide. The California State Fair is dedicated as a place to celebrate the best the state has to offer in agriculture, technology and the diversity of its people, traditions and trends that shape the Golden State's future. We invite you to join us for the 165th California State Fair, July 13-29, 2018.
