The Southeast Conference annual membership meeting will bring about 200 people to Wrangell this month.
Wrangell Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said Wrangell requested to host the three-day meeting because it provides a boost for local businesses.
“It’s a great opportunity for the community,” Rushmore said. “It will bring a whole lot of people in town that will be spending money at the restaurants and the stores. It is a lot of work but it’s worth it for the community.”
Southeast Conference is an organization that advocates for economic development in Southeast Alaska.
Rushmore said Wrangell is responsible for finding accommodation for conference attendees and for hosting a reception on Sept. 16, the first night of the conference.
“We’ve been working with the accommodations, staying in touch with them. Because we knew we didn’t have enough rooms to house the 175 to 200 people that attend the annual meeting every year,” Rushmore said.
Rushmore said Trident Seafoods offered its bunkhouse to make up for the shortage of accommodations.
Shelly Wright is the Executive Director of Southeast Conference. She said this is the first time the organization is looking at the role artists play in Southeast Alaska’s economy.
“Southeast Conference hasn’t necessarily researched or focused on the arts much in the past, so we decided this year to do a survey, and we will be revealing a new publication. So that’s new to Southeast Conference,” Wright said.
Wright said the meeting will also focus on the Marine Industry Council that was started in March.
“We’ll have a lot of presentations on how that’s progressing, which is kind of exciting because we’re focusing on the fishing industry, and the boat building, and the repair and maintenance. And how to grow that industry and how to get folks staying in Southeast Alaska to have their boats worked on,” Wright said.
The annual meeting is held in a different Southeast community each year. Wrangell last hosted the conference in 2005.
