The 2026 Small Market Meetings Summit takes place May 13–14 in Owensboro, Kentucky, an internationally known wellspring of musicians and barbecue enthusiasts that rests on a busy stretch of the Ohio River in the far western part of the state. The city has a long history of entertaining regional meeting delegations and is banking on the Small Market Meetings Summit to increase its national prominence for the industry.
“We’re well-established regionally and have entertained meeting delegations for decades due to our setting on the Ohio River and our traditions in bluegrass music and barbecue,” said Teresa Jones, destination account executive for Visit Owensboro. “In 2026, we’ll host meetings including the Going On Faith Conference with 200 or more delegates, the Kentucky Cattleman’s Association with 360 delegates, the Kentucky Ambulance and EMS Conference with 250 delegates, and the Kentucky Jailer’s Spring Conference with 200 delegates.
The Small Market Meetings Summit is a perfect place for us to expand our visibility to meeting planners across the country,” Jones said. “Our convention center features expansive meeting space and outdoor terraces overlooking the Ohio River. We’re looking forward to showing that to everyone in May. And we’ll have a new sports complex and fieldhouse ready to go next fall, so we’ll publicize that at the conference as well.”
“We like to say we’re too big to be small and too small to be big,” Jones said. “We offer a safe and walkable downtown, and our local coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques treat delegates like guests. Due to our music and barbecue heritage, we have well-known people come to town, and they love the fact that they can come here and just be themselves. Nobody makes over them too much.”
Key Meeting Venues
Owensboro Convention Center
The Owensboro Convention Center treats delegates to an outdoor setting reminiscent of a Mark Twain novel. Multi-container barges pushed by diesel-powered tugs run both ways on the Ohio River, just a few hundred yards beyond the center’s outdoor balconies. The center offers 102,000 square feet of available space, including a 44,000-square-foot exhibition hall and the 8,900-square-foot Kentucky Legend Pier that stands above the river, plus additional ballroom, breakout and pre-function space. Much of its riverside space offers floor-to-ceiling windows that emphasize the outdoor landscape.
RiverPark Center
Owensboro’s RiverPark Center is a landmark on the Ohio River — a regional performing arts center that many cities twice its size would envy. Comprising almost 100,000 square feet in all, this center includes a 1,479-seat auditorium, a multipurpose theater, an outdoor entertainment patio, event spaces and meeting rooms. Planners have all facilities at their disposal unless they are booked. Professional audiovisual, lighting and acoustical systems are available. The RiverPark Center’s lobby is also available for pre-events, registrations or receptions. Outdoor events can be booked on the center’s Truist Plaza, which offers impressive river views.
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum
The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum showcases Owensboro’s standing as the home to bluegrass music, a genre often characterized by its “high lonesome sound” and pioneered in the mid- to late-20th century by performers like Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and Earl Scruggs. Monroe is considered the “father” of bluegrass and grew up in nearby Rosine, Kentucky. In addition to the museum’s collection of instruments, hall of fame member memorabilia and themed merchandise, the facility offers two upper floors of meeting or event space for planners to utilize. A 4,000-square-foot event hall with riverfront balcony, state-of-the-art 447-seat theater and outdoor stage with seating for up to 1,500 guests are just a few highlights.
HealthForce Kentucky Innovation Simulation Center
The need for more trained healthcare workers led to the creation of this new statewide meeting facility that will be equipped to accommodate highly specialized healthcare organizations’ meetings. Qualified groups as small as 12 delegates or as large as 300 will attend training sessions booked by healthcare entities’ meeting planners. The 350,000-square-foot center will open early this year and will include cutting-edge immersive environments for treating emergencies as well as surgical and diagnostic suites and other specialized training rooms.
Off-Sites & Entertainment
Western Kentucky Barbecue
Barbecue may outrank chili as America’s most regionalized delicacy. Some of the best-known varieties include Kansas City barbecue, Memphis barbecue and western brisket, or Texas-style barbecue, but Western Kentucky barbecue holds equal esteem among this food’s biggest fans. Owensboro is the home of Western Kentucky barbecue, which generally features barbecued mutton, chicken and pork smoked over an open pit and basted in a vinegar-based sauce. Mutton comes from sheep and is offered as a main dish or as a complement to pork or chicken in Owensboro’s barbecue restaurants.
Delegates will likely enjoy a meal or items from Moonlite Bar-B-Q or Old Hickory Bar-B-Que. Somewhat unique to this barbecue scene is the inclusion of burgoo, a traditional stew-like side that typically consists of pork, mutton, chicken, potatoes, lima beans and corn.
BBQ and Barrels
Owensboro is home to an internationally known barbecue event that was produced for many years as the International Bar-B-Q Festival. Today, that event is named BBQ & Barrels and will be held May 8–9, just a few days before delegates arrive for the Small Market Meetings Summit. Owensboro has a rich bourbon heritage that has been added to the barbecue event to give it even more authentic appeal. Concerts at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, bourbon tastings, offerings from various barbecue vendors and local festivities will bring hundreds of bourbon and barbecue fans to Owensboro.
ROMP Festival
Owensboro’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum hosts the annual ROMP Festival, one of America’s best-known bluegrass and traditional music events, held just outside of town at the spacious Yellow Creek Park. Chairs, blankets, kids’ activities, nature trails and even a fishing lake combine to create a family atmosphere that defines this popular music festival. The 2026 ROMP is being held June 24–27 and includes a lineup of talent that will draw thousands of music fans over its four days. Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury Band, Punch Brothers, Rhonda Vincent, Michael Cleveland and other prominent musicians are scheduled to appear.
Green River Distilling
Delegates who are bourbon fans will not want to miss Green River Distilling, which produces “the whiskey without regrets.” Operating on the same grounds where it began in 1885, this Owensboro distillery is a member of the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail and offers bourbon tours, tastings, VIP experiences, cocktail classes and other activities at its beautifully restored facility. It also maintains a popular tasting room in downtown Louisville that offers many of the same opportunities to enjoy its bourbons.
Owensboro Racing & Gaming
Owensboro Racing & Gaming is a new Churchill Downs venue that opened in 2025 on a 20-acre setting just outside of town. It features 600 state-of-the-art historical racing machines, a retail sportsbook, simulcast wagering, and multiple food and beverage offerings. The contemporary facility has become a favorite leisure option for meeting delegates in Owensboro.
To register for the 2026 Small Market Meetings Summit in Owensboro, Kentucky, go to smmconf.com/summit.
