Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 19, 2024 21 At the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge, teams armed with $1,000,000 in simulated funds engage in fast-paced trading to build the largest portfolio in a fictitious market. Students compete during the day, putting JA lessons into practice, followed by an adults-only evening of friendly competition, networking, food and drinks. For more information, to become a sponsor, or to purchase tickets, visit www.jaconn.org Tuesday, March 12, 2024 Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field At the XL Center, Weiss said he's also seeing more of these types of shows, which he believes are an offshoot of the pandemic. "There are more content creators and producers out there than I can recall," Weiss said. "I think people want to be out and doing events. I think it's the hangover effect of COVID. People were stuck inside wanting to do things, and that kind of lifted off as we saw the great explosion of people outside partaking in activities." The success of the drive-thru "Jurassic Quest" event gave birth to Pratt & Whitney Stadium's other drive-thru event, the holiday-themed "Magic of Lights" show, which debuted in 2021. Weiss said Magic of Lights is also popular, and he expects it to continue as an annual tradition. The company that produces "Magic of Lights" is New York-based Family Entertainment Live, which also produces a "Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live" show, set to appear at the XL Center March 23 and March 24. Without the pandemic, Weiss said he wouldn't have been connected with the company. CT Convention Center The drive-thru lights show is complemented by "Glow Hartford," an indoor holiday light festival at the Connecticut Convention Center. Glow Hartford debuted in 2022 after being delayed due to the pandemic. It returned in 2023 and sold close to 50,000 tickets, making it one of the venue's most popular events. Overall, the Connecticut Conven- tion Center has been slower to return to its pre-pandemic event frequency because many of its conventions are held cyclically, on yearly rotations, and are booked years in advance, said Michael Costelli, general manager of the facility. In the meantime, the Connecticut Convention Center has filled voids with traveling shows like "Beyond Van Gogh: The Immer- sive Experience" and "Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience" — both produced by Paquin Entertainment Group, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "The exhibit hall became available during times that traditionally it's not available because of COVID, so it created this vacuum," Costelli said. He said the convention center proactively looked for these types of traveling events to fill space during open intervals. "If it wasn't for the pandemic, we probably would have never gotten to be partners with them," Costelli said. "So, I think that relationship will surely lend itself towards doing more busi- ness here at the convention center." As regularly scheduled conventions and shows return, traveling events may become less common. Conven- tions tend to fill up the hotels, like the adjacent Hartford Marriott Downtown, and attract visitors to the city for days at a time — often from out-of-state or even international locales. Events like "Beyond Van Gogh" might draw people from across Connecticut, but they tend not to stay overnight. "They're great shows, but they're day-trippers," Costelli said. "Our job is to fill hotel rooms as well as bringing day-trippers." Starting next summer, the Connecticut Convention Center won't have as much downtime as it did this year, Costelli said. However, when there is downtime in the winter, popular events will return. "Jurassic Quest is a totally different animal and they'll come pretty much any time of the year," Costelli said. "They'll come whenever we have space available." The Connecticut Convention Center also has consumer shows inter- spersed between conventions and day-tripper events. Those include the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show, held Feb. 22 to Feb. 25, which attracts people from all over the Northeast. "The economic impact can be very drastic between a day-tripper and an overnighter," Costelli said. "We have to find that happy mix. You're never going to have 100% conventions. It's just impossible." "Jurassic Quest," an interactive dinosaur-themed experience, returns to the Connecticut Convention Center March 1 to March 3. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Mike Costelli

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