SEATTLE-The Washington State Convention Center, the largest meeting and events facility in Washington State, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a community event on Friday, June 8, 2018. For the past 30 years, the Center has maintained a fiscally responsible, self-sustaining operation that contributes significant economic benefits for the City of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington.

Since the Center’s official opening in 1988, it has hosted events bringing more than 11 million attendees to its facilities in downtown Seattle with more than $6.1 billion being spent in Washington State and in local business by out-of-state attendees alone. Without a single dollar of direct cost from operations to tax payers, an estimated $401 million in Washington State sales taxes has been created and collected from that spending. Looking to the future, the WSCC is excited to break ground later this summer on construction of an additional facility located just one block northeast of its current location, doubling its event and meeting space capabilities; bringing additional conventions and other events to Seattle; and creating thousands of new jobs, economic impact, new affordable housing, and revenue for small businesses.

A brief history of the WSCC:

• Early 1970s – A group of community leaders from the public and private sectors decide to build a convention center in Seattle to foster new economic development and increase hotel occupancy
• June 23, 1988 – The Washington State Convention Center officially opens with a ribbon-cutting by Governor Booth Gardner and its first scheduled convention, Meeting Planners International
• 2001 – Construction is completed on an expansion to the WSCC, doubling its prime exhibition space from 100,000 square feet to 205,700 square feet
• 2010 – The WSCC transitions governance from a state nonprofit corporation to a Public Facilities District and opens The Conference Center at 8th and Pike across from its existing facility
• 2018 – The WSCC celebrates its 30th anniversary

“The WSCC’s friendly neighbors and supportive community members are important reasons for much of the Center’s 30 years of successful operations. The hospitality industry and our surrounding neighborhood communities have helped WSCC provide the necessary public benefits package to move forward in building the additional facility, which will boost economic growth for the city, especially hotels and local businesses,” says Jeffrey A. Blosser, President and Chief Executive Officer of the WSCC. “As we commemorate the past and begin looking to our future with the construction of our additional facility, our staff and board of directors invite the community to our 30th anniversary celebration.”

WSCC 30th Anniversary Community BBQ
Date + Time: Friday, June 8, 2018, 11:30am–1:30pm
Location: Level 4, Washington State Convention Center, 705 Pike Street, Seattle
Free and open to the public.

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