The Oklahoma Recreation & Park Society (ORPS) has selected Lawton as the location for their 2014 Annual Conference.  The Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce presented a bid to host the event which was accepted this week.  The event will be held in the new downtown Hilton Garden Inn and Conference Center on November 4–7, 2014.

The Oklahoma Recreation & Park Society’s (ORPS) main purpose for choosing the Lawton Fort Sill region is the highly anticipated downtown conference center that can hold large groups with breakout meeting spaces.  In addition, ORPS noted its respect for the partnerships our local businesses and city has created in order to maintain our parks and recreational sites.

Roger Bank, Chair of the Chamber’s Tourism Committee said, “I would like to extend a huge thank you to the Oklahoma Recreation & Park Society for choosing the Lawton Fort Sill community as their 2014 conference location.  It is a welcome sight as they have not been here since 1996.  The ORPS Annual Conference is anticipated to be the first conference in our new center.  It is expected to bring in hundreds of park and recreational managers from across the State of Oklahoma. This event will provide approximately 180 room nights for the three-day conference and in return; bringing in an estimated $25,000 to the local economy. Winning this bid is a sign of more events booking at Lawton’s new downtown conference center. We owe a big thank you to Kim Shahan, Lawton Parks and Recreation Director, for assisting the Tourism Committee with submitting the bid proposal.”