Post-COVID rebound: Conventions, events returning to Albany with full schedule through March

ALBANY — Jehovah’s Witnesses, some 4,000-plus strong, are returning to Albany this week, but they’re not alone in choosing to gather here post-COVID. The Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors will be in town Feb. 13-15 for that group’s first gathering since the pandemic hit.

The Christian Worldview Film Festival also returns in March to Sherwood Baptist Church, with screenings of some 50 films planned over five days.

There are also quail hunts on tap, and more entertainers are returning to the stage.

All of that means that Rashelle Minix, executive director of the Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau, has a busy few weeks lined up to start 2023.

“I feel like we have something every weekend through March,” she said. “We are seeing a rebound not only in conventions but in entertainment.”

The Albany Snickers Marathon and Half Marathon is scheduled for March 4, and this year it will have an added twist.

“In conjunction with the marathon, we are partnering with an (U.S.) Army unit in Kuwait to do a shadow run at exactly the same time,” Minix said. “They have 450 participants. We’re sending them medals and shirts.”

The gathering of CVBs will be a return to the annual event since the onset of the novel coronavirus and the first time Albany has hosted since 2007. Participants from around the state will get to check out some of Albany’s tourist draws, including trips to Radium Springs and the Resora Village, which is a former plantation worked by slave labor.

All of the visitors for the various events will mean people paying for lodging, meals and gas while they are in town.

“We will have up to 200 tourism professionals from around the state of Georgia, from other CVBs, hoteliers,” Minix said. “It’s our annual meeting.

“It’s a great opportunity for economic impact and economic development. Bringing people here is always an opportunity to showcase Albany. It’s a great time for us to showcase Albany to people who don’t live here.”

So far through 2023, hotel occupancy is relatively steady at 64.8% occupancy, Minix said. Some of the events, such as the two-day assembly for Jahovah’s Witnesses from south Georgia and north Florida, will outstrip the number of hotel rooms, but there are Airbnb sites available as well as spillover into surrounding towns and cities.

Adrian Marshall, a member of an Albany congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, said there is excitement surrounding the Saturday and Sunday gathering that will take place at the Albany Civic Center.

“Our last in-person convention was in 2020; I think it was spring of 2020,” he said. “We’re pretty fired up about it.”

The convention will include the Southwest Georgia Circuit and Northern Florida Circuit, with a combined attendance of up to 4,000.

“The public’s always welcome,” Marshall said. “There are never any collections, nor any tithing.”

Minix said she is already looking beyond spring to later in the year.

“We’re really hoping for a strong return of family reunions for the summertime,” she said.

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