I want to preface this review that I'm rating the building & an event that I attended while I was in town. The building is very modern. Sharp lines & trapezoid shapes. It looks good. Will it look good in 20 years? I'm not sure. The lobby is huge, with wide open spaces (now I've got that Dixie Chicks song stuck in my head) and high ceilings. Some modern glass work hangs from the walls & ceilings. It's interesting. You can tell that Owensboro wants the convention center to have a big city feel. This isn't like the convention center that was at the Big E. (PS I miss the big E). I was in town for our family tradition of going to Reid's Apple Festival in October. We were done with that & decided to meet some friends for an "Octoberfest" event that was being held at the convection center. From the flyer & website it seemed like some kind of multicultural event, with different beers & food that was brought in for the event. The event was free admission so we decided to go. Upon entering the event, we noticed large screens with basketball games on & a band that was playing traditional German music. Well, some of it was traditional & other was just 90s songs with some German words in it. The music was really loud for the amount of senior citizens at this event. You had to buy tickets to then buy items at the concession stand. Yes, a concession stand. The feed was representational of that name as well. They had (frozen then microwaved) pretzels for like 6-7 bucks with beer cheese. The beer they had was Miller Lite and the other suspects. I thought this was going to have different German beers you could try & that wasn't the case. The lines for the food & drink we so long that we decided against it. We didn't stay but about 20 minutes before we decided to go. I wished it was an authentic Octoberfest event & not a little event that was put on by the convention center to bring in a buck or two. Overall I would've rated the event at a 2 star, but I'm giving the convention center a 4 because it's very nice (if you like modern) inside & it'll hopefully bring an actual Octoberfest event to Owensboro one day. read more

Owensboro Convention Center - That a lot of light & windows. - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Owensboro, Kentucky

The facility is ok, but we were at the facility for a volleyball tournament & were there from 2pm to past 10. Around 7 pm, they closed down the hot food at the concession stand. Our players needed food, so we ordered Grub Hub. We did not have time to leave to get food because of our game schedule. The security guard was incredibly rude & demanded that we make our players eat outside or in the car. The temperature was in the 30s. Also, the food we bought earlier in the day was cold & stale. read more

First time here for a conference with a large group. The facility is ideal for such events. Lots of classroom and meeting space, staff was very attentive, accommodating and friendly. Food was great as well. If you are looking to book meeting space in the area, this place is definitely worth a look. read more

Extraordinarily beautiful facility with food service befitting a cut rate hotel. We pointed out to the banquet staff that our table had not been served salads. Rather than go the kitchen to prepare fresh plates, they wandered the room to find uneaten salads from the tables of other diners. The entrees were prime rib which was available well-done or burned and dry to a leather like state and a grilled chicken dish which was clearly a pre-cooked food service item. The vegetables were green beans and au gratin potatoes. Each were overcooked and bland. The bright spots were the bread and deserts all of which I'm guessing were brought in rather than prepared in-house. It's amateur hour in the kitchen and on the floor which is a shame given the quality of the venue. read more

Plenty of meeting spaces and options for various sized groups. Very clean, well staffed, and nicely decorated. One item of feedback (reason for my 4 star rating), is it needs more furniture for working space or lounging. read more

I attended a John Micheal Montgomery concert in May 2016 along with 7 others. We were seated in the front and to the far right of the band. Audio was not professional and we could not make out what was being said. Very poor audio read more

I reserved the space in early October 2014 months before my wedding when Jamie Johnson worked there (she was amazing to work with). I started to really begin planning my wedding in January and unfortunately Kate Douglas was my new contact because Jamie no longer worked there. Kate is completely inexperienced. She was miserable to deal with.... absolutely MISERABLE! I begged, pleaded, emailed, and emailed more with little to no responses. She eventually told me that they do not usually deal with clients until 2-3 months from the event (so they couldn't deal with me from January to April basically - that's ridiculous when planning a wedding). Kate couldn't answer any of my questions the first time around and then took MONTHS to get any sort of response. When I first began, they claimed their house lines were floor length and later said they are not (that cost me $400 that I thought was included). It took me forever (no joke 3 months) to get a floor layout for my wedding planner. They said they would work with me when I wanted to go from 2 rooms to 1 room because my guest list had gotten smaller, but it took them a month to tell me oh no we don't lower the price for that please see your contract paragraph xx. It took them FOUR WEEKS to solve a problem in 2 minutes. The general manager even called me a liar! I voiced my complaints (listed above) and since I didn't agree with what he had to say because my wedding planner, event rental company, and I all agreed that I could use a smaller space he said and I quote, "Well if you don't believe me, then I guess I can't believe anything you have to say." What kind of logic is that?!!! Then I was supposed to get an invoice for the food for my event which I asked for 3 times. She didn't give it to me until the night of my wedding and came up while my husband and I were eating to ask who was paying for the food. My aunt and uncle were footing the bill and the invoice they were given was incorrect. They over charged me on kids meals, charged me liability insurance twice, and I'm still pending a response on if they properly charged me tax and if they properly charged me for my bar. The only other time Kate talked to me at my event was to ask what I wanted to do with the extra dessert. I asked her to give the top layer of my cake to my mother and then an hour later while we were picking up our decoration she shows up with the cake and was like oh did your mom leave? Um yes of course she left! Everyone is gone except for the few people cleaning up?! We just tossed the cake. The convention center did not box up any food for us to take home. I've worked with several places as a server and most places will do that for the bride and groom; not surprised their hospitality sucks. I also found out from a friend that before the ceremony, everyone was a little confused on where to sit (our reception and ceremony was in the same room) and she asked the staff for help and they expected her as a guest to tell everyone to sit down. Really? Where was the direction? I had a wedding planner, but she was helping to round of the bridal party to get us prepared for the ceremony and wasn't out there at the time. Sooooo after all that, what I will say about the convention center is that the space sells itself. It's absolutely beautiful (our pictures are amazing), but unfortunately the management leaves an awful, repugnant taste in your mouth after the whole ordeal. The food was fantastic so props to the chef. If you want a riverfront wedding in Owensboro, I would choose the River Park Center instead. It's a little outdated with all that green, but I wished a hundred times that I would have chosen them. read more