SPRINGFIELD — Visit Springfield Director Scott Dahl confirmed to The State Journal-Register May 6 that the Illinois FFA State Convention is leaving the Bank of Springfield Center for Peoria in 2028.
Over 5,000 members, advisors and guests attended the convention in 2025. The convention this year is June 9-11.
“They’ve basically outgrown the BoS Center,” Dahl said. “This is another reason why we need an expansion of the BoS Center. We get an expansion, obviously, we can look to bring them back. I think they want to be here. It’s the capital. It’s centrally located, but I think they’ve just outgrown the space.”
The convention’s economic impact to the city, in terms of hotel stays was $120,000, Dahl said. That didn’t include direct expenditures, like food and beverage, retail and entertainment and indirect expenditures, like printing, ride shares and rentals.Â
“It’ll be different not seeing the (FFA) blue jackets in the summer, but we’re confident they will return in the future,” Dahl said.
An FFA memo, obtained by the SJ-R, indicated that the Peoria Civic Center “will allow all convention events and activities to be hosted under one roof, creating a more unified and efficient experience for members, advisors, and guests. The facilities in Peoria also provide the capacity needed to accommodate increasing attendance and enhance the overall logistics of the event.”
An expanded BoS Center could host larger and multiple conventions. Its expansion, which would include a hotel, was tied to a recent “megaprojects” bill passed by the Illinois House trying to induce the Chicago Bears to stay in the state.
The creation of a Capital Area Tourism Authority has had its critics, though, and emotion again spilled over at the May 5 Springfield City Council meeting.
Some alderpersons have criticized Mayor Misty Buscher, who supports the legislation, because it creates a board on which, they felt, the city would be underrepresented.
The effort is being led at the statehouse by State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, a former city council alderwoman, and State Rep. Mike Coffey, R-Springfield, who is the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority (SMEAA) chair and manages a downtown restaurant. Coffey voted for the bill.
The FFA convention features awards, career fairs and educational sessions for students. It includes the election of officers, who take a year off from school to carry out their duties.
The 385 FFA chapters across the state enroll 36,874 students.
The annual convention was held at the University of Illinois Assembly Hall (now the State Farm Center) for many years before moving to Springfield in the mid 1990s.
(This story was updated to add a new video.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Why this state convention is leaving Springfield after 2027 for Peoria
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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