Harlingen Convention Center Open for Business

By:

Harlingen Convention Center Open for Business

Mariachis added a festive atmosphere to welcome guests for the dedication of the $17.6-million convention center.
Mariachis added a festive atmosphere to welcome guests for the dedication of the $17.6-million convention center.
Guests at the convention center dedication filled the lobby as they toured the facility, which featured rooms set up and decorated for different types of community events. (VBR)
Guests at the convention center dedication filled the lobby as they toured the facility, which featured rooms set up and decorated for different types of community events. (VBR)

The new $17.6 million Harlingen Convention Center is open for business. The 44,436-square-foot facility was dedicated in May with great fanfare.

Soon after, construction started on a $25-million five-story Hilton Garden Inn with 149 rooms adjacent to the convention center. That project is expected to be complete in 12 to 14 months. The hotel is being developed by BC Lynd, which will also manage the convention center.

Advance bookings for the convention center include several corporate events, quinceaneras and weddings. Religious events have been scheduled for almost 40 Sundays.

The convention center offers a variety of configurations to host events of different types. The main ballroom can seat about 1,500 people in a concert setting, or divided into smaller venues for company meetings or private celebrations.

Dedication ceremony guests toured the facility, where rooms were decorated as they might be for weddings, parties, business meetings and other events. Rooms in the center are named for some of the Rio Grande Valley’s specialty birds, such as Great Kiskadee, Green Jay and Oriole.

For more event coverage, visit the VBR photo gallery.

George Cox is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years experience as a newspaper writer and editor. A Corpus Christi native, he started his career as a reporter for The Brownsville Herald after graduating from Sam Houston State University with a degree in journalism. He later worked on newspapers in Laredo and Corpus Christi as well as northern California. George returned to the Valley in 1996 as editor of The Brownsville Herald and in 2001 moved to Harlingen as editor of the Valley Morning Star. He also held the position of editor and general manager for the Coastal Current, a weekly entertainment magazine with Valleywide distribution. George retired from full-time journalism in 2015 to work as a freelance writer and legal document editor. He continues to live in Harlingen where he and his wife Katherine co-founded Rio Grande Valley Therapy Pets, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the benefits of therapy pets and assisting people and their pets to become registered therapy pet teams.

Comments