Blair County won’t be hosting the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania trade show and conference in 2028.

While the association board voted in 2023 to schedule the event at the Blair County Convention Center, the organization has since decided to move its August 2028 trade show to State College.

CCAP Executive Director Kyle Kopko said the change was based on lodging concerns that developed while anticipating renovations to the hotel adjoining the Blair County Convention Center.

When CCAP voted in 2023 to schedule the trade show and conference at the Blair County Convention Center, the adjoining hotel was being operated as a Courtyard by Marriott. In 2024, the hotel was in the process of changing hands and acquiring a new name. By early 2025, it had become a Country Inn & Suites and its operators acknowledged that renovations were beginning.

Online reviews, including ones posted in the last three months, indicate that some rooms have been renovated and others haven’t. One online posting from a month ago indicated that new furnishings and fixtures are ordered.

Kopko, hired as CCAP’s executive director five months ago, said he understood that when the decision was made in 2023 to schedule the organization’s largest conference at the convention center in Altoona, renovations at the center’s adjoining hotel were promised.

“Maybe the change in ownership slowed things down, but the fact is that the renovations aren’t done,” Kopko said.

Because the CCAP conference is expected to bring in about 500 participants, it was anticipated that the organization would use the convention center’s adjoining hotel as its main lodging site and rely on nearby hotels for supplemental lodging.

Kopko said there was no desire to keep the event at the convention center and rely on nearby hotels to provide more rooms.

“There’s always (transportation) complications with getting people back and forth to other hotels,” Kopko said. “It becomes logistically complicated.”

Blair County Commissioners Chairman Dave Kessling, who wasn’t on the commissioners’ board when CCAP voted to hold the 2028 conference in Blair County, said he was disappointed by the decision.

Based on CCAP events he has attended, Kessling said CCAP is a group that prefers conference sites with adjoining lodging and/or on-site lodging.

Over the years, CCAP has traditionally relied on larger venues for its August conference, including sites in Erie, Lancaster, Hershey, Harrisburg, Seven Springs and Gettysburg. The August 2026 CCAP conference is being held at the Kalahari Resort and Conference Center in Pocono Mountain, Monroe County.

Kupko said he believes the CCAP board would again be willing to consider the Blair County Convention Center once lodging improves.

The next opportunity for hosting, however, isn’t until 2031 because CCAP has already identified conference sites through 2030, based on its practice of making decisions five years in advance. The decision on the 2031 location is to be made later this year.

“We’re always open to proposals,” Kupko said.

Convention center CEO Tom Schilling acknowledged during Wednesday’s convention center authority meeting that CCAP had moved its August 2028 conference to State College.

When the authority met in November, Kessling reported that he understood that CCAP had concerns about the pending 2028 conference that needed to be addressed to keep the event scheduled in Blair County.

Schilling said Wednesday during a meeting with CCAP meeting planner Terry Cochran, some concerns were satisfactorily addressed. But the decision on moving the event reflected concerns about the lodging and expectation that renovations were going to be made.

Schilling also reported that he intends to stay in touch with CCAP personnel and expects to meet again with Cochran in March.

“Hopefully they’ll give us another bite at the apple,” Schilling said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.