The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Special Bulletin No. 1276.1
BID: $OPDX.1276.1
July 29, 2016
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio)

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, K8DJC and W8HJR for the following DX information.

Hi Fellow DXers,
Just received the following two messages..... 73 de Tedd KB8NW

Message #1
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Dayton  Hamvention® 2017 News Update


The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) regrets to inform our many
vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, HARA has announced
the closing of their facility.  We have begun execution of our contingency
plan to move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home.


DARA and Hamvention® have enjoyed many successful years working together
with HARA Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best.


DARA and Hamvention® have been working on a contingency plan in the event
HARA would become unavailable. We have spent many hours over the last few
years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we
believe will be a great new home! Due to logistics and timing issues,
we will make a formal announcement introducing our new partner. This
information will be coming soon. We all believe this new venue will be
a spectacular place to hold our beloved event. Please rest assured we
will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the
region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned
for Hamvention 2017 should not be affected.


We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future
with The Dayton Hamvention®.


Ron Cramer
General Chairman
Dayton Hamvention 2017


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Message #2
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Hamvention® has announced that Hara Arena, the home of Hamvention since
1964, is closing. Hamvention 2017 will be held at a new location in the
Dayton area, yet to be disclosed. “The Dayton Amateur Radio Association
(DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders
that, unfortunately, HARA has announced the closing of their facility,”
a news release from Hamvention General Chair Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, said
today (July 29). “We have begun execution of our contingency plan to
move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home. DARA and Hamvention have enjoyed
many successful years working together with HARA Arena and we wish the
Wampler family the best.”


According to Cramer, DARA and Hamvention have been working on a
contingency plan in the event that the deteriorating Hara Arena ever
should become unavailable. “We have spent many hours over the last few
years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we
believe will be a great new home!” The announcement said that DARA and
Hamvention expect to make a formal announcement soon “introducing our
new partner.”


"We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our
beloved event,” Cramer said. “Please rest assured we will have the
event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the
current accommodations and outside events already planned for
Hamvention 2017 should not be affected."


“We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future
with The Dayton Hamvention.”


A hockey team's cancellation of its upcoming season earlier this month
had raised questions about the future availability of Hara Arena for
Hamvention®. Hara Arena has been facing long-standing financial
problems — including unpaid property taxes. Renovations promised for
the 2016 Hamvention never materialized.


Hamvention attracted more than 25,000 visitors this spring and is worth
millions of dollars to the Dayton area economy.


The Wampler family has owned and operated Hara Arena since its humble
origins in the 1950s, when Wampler Ballarena — then a dance hall and
now an exhibit hall familiar to Hamvention visitors — was built in what
had been a family-owned orchard.