By Morgan Harvey
Intern

Jehovah's Witness conventions bring eight weeks of big revenue to the Kissimmee/St. Cloud area.

The Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park will host eight three-day conventions, beginning Friday for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. More than 64,000 delegates are expected to attend the conventions, which will be held each weekend until Sept. 12. Five of the eight conventions will be conducted in English, including the opening convention that started Friday. The other three conventions will be in Spanish.

This year’s convention theme is “Remain close to Jehovah!” and will be the focus of religious sessions in the mornings and afternoons of each weekend.  Sessions begin at 9:20 a.m. Friday through Sunday, afternoon sessions start at 1:50 p.m. Friday, 1:35 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Potential revenue for this year’s conventions is expected to meet previous year’s dollar amounts, Mike Roth, spokesperson for the conventions, said.

“We're looking at $100 million in potential revenue,” Roth said. “It's going to be substantial.”

The eight conventions at the arena are only a small portion of the 357 conventions being held in 90 cities across the continental United States. Projected attendance for all conventions is 1.7 million. The program for these conventions are sectioned series of biblical sessions focusing on the conventions' main theme, “Remain close to Jehovah!”

Locally, there are more than 400 Jehovah's Witness congregations, which will be supporting the conventions at the arena by distributing invitations for each weekend. Entrance into the conventions is free and no collections will be taken at any of the sessions. Area revenue will come into play when sessions let out and attendees come into Kissimmee and St. Cloud for lodging and food, Roth said.

“During the economic slow down, when you bring approximately 8,000 people into an area every weekend and they stay in motel rooms, go to restaurants and purchase incidentals, really the community is going to benefit quite a bit financially as well,” Roth said.

In previous years total revenue has climbed past the projected $100 million mark, and Roth said he expects the 2010 conventions will stick to that trend.