Convention Center opens wide

It’s big.

That seemed to be the consensus as a steady stream of visitors strolled through Spokane’s new Group Health Exhibit Hall on Thursday. Tours were offered to the public whose May 2002 vote for additional sales and lodging taxes made the $75 million Convention Center possible.

“It’s hard for me to imagine an event that big in here,” said Ray Keevy, a Coeur d’Alene resident who works in Spokane. While downtown for an errand, he popped in to check out the new building.

“I can’t believe the massiveness of this room,” said Maggie Schueneman, of Spokane, as she stared across the 565-foot length of the exhibit hall floor. Almost two football fields would fit end-to-end on the concrete floor.

That’s perfect for the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which will be held in January at the new exhibit hall and at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The exhibit hall floor is big enough for a 200-foot-long ice skating rink, bleachers that seat 4,000, and a judges’ area, said organizers Barb Beddor and Toby Steward.

“For us, every inch is going to be used for the skating event,” said Steward, who helped man a booth Thursday to tell visitors about the skating event. “We have to build an arena in here.”

John Bongard, who lives on the South Hill, said he thinks the expanded space was necessary. He recalled an event at the old Convention Center that seemed squeezed. Indeed, about half of the regular consumer shows held in the former exhibit hall space are planning to expand due to the additional square footage, tourism officials have said.

Upon setting foot in the new exhibit hall, Bongard issued a challenge to his son and his son’s friend.

“I told the kids to run back and forth 10 times,” Bongard said with a laugh. “They said, ‘What did we do to make you angry?’ “

Many visitors also were wowed by the tall banks of windows, the natural light flowing in, and the unique ship-shaped design.

Gail Quaid, of Colbert, Wash., strolled into the new exhibit hall and took the elevator to the second floor. Stepping out, she said, she was drawn to the light shining in the windows at the building’s pointed tip.

“It was like a magnet drawing me,” Quaid said. “I was sort of awestruck. Because of the glass, it’s as though you’re walking to the edge of a point and looking out.”

Most of the people surveyed said they had voted for the additional taxes that made the building possible. But some said they were checking up on their purchase.

“I wanted to see what they did with all that money,” said John Woodhead, who owns a building nearby.

Mostly, he was impressed.

“My philosophy is you have to think big,” Woodhead said. “You can’t think much bigger than this.”