Convention Center finds way to help all

The covid-19 pandemic has done its share unraveling some of the fabric that binds society together, but in many ways, the restructuring that has had to go on brings us closer together.

One of those instances has to do with the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

The fact that the center has seen a dearth of bigger events is well noted. And there’s nothing new there. That is the case all over the world.

We can’t imagine the members of a large group getting on a plane and traveling to (fill in your favorite getaway spot here) to have a conference. Heck, grabbing a couple friends and going out to eat isn’t even a thing, although, we admit, the news that two vaccines being tested are 90-plus percent effective has us thinking that friend visits may not be all that far away.

So instead of hosting big events, which is what the convention center’s sweet spot is, that venue is now used for smaller gatherings. And it really does fit the bill well. Think large open spaces as in the ability to socially distance to your heart’s content.

Since March, when life started falling apart, the center has been host to Pine Bluff City Council and committee meetings, food giveaways, census events, civic meetings and a variety of other gatherings that used to be held somewhere else — but that somewhere else suddenly was not a safe place any longer.

Those little pieces of business have allowed the center’s director, Joe McCorvey, to keep the doors open and operate as usual.

“What I did, while other convention centers furloughed their people immediately,” he said, “I held our folks on because we were applying for the [Payroll Protection Program] grant money from the state.”

That, however, didn’t work out, causing some furloughs, but the Advertising and Promotion Commission came up with a grant for the center in July, allowing McCorvey to bring his folks back to work.

The trade off is that because the city paid for the center’s annual insurance premium, the center is now hosting city meetings where, again, social distancing is not a problem, considering the cavernous space it has.

“We just kind of do what we can do,” McCorvey said. Another piece of business will be coming from the judicial system. Courtrooms, as one can imagine, are not designed for social distancing or for accommodating other sanitation protocols. But the convention center is just the ticket.

Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr., who is the administrative judge for the circuit, said he has been working with the staff at the convention center to use the space as a courtroom.

“As a matter of fact, we had jury orientation down there last Wednesday and it went real well,” the judge told our reporter. “We’ve had jury trials scheduled every day as well but they’ve pled out.”

That all sounds like a lot of win-wins. Groups that want to — and need to — keep getting together have a place to go that is safe and clean, and McCorvey’s employees still have jobs instead of being laid off.

That is part-necessity is the mother of invention and part-kumbaya. But no matter what one calls it, it’s Pine Bluff doing what it needs to do to keep life moving in the right direction, and if ever there was a time for that, it’s now.