City of Joplin
Joplin
Less than a year before the Branson tornado, on May 22, 2011, a catastrophic EF5 multiple-vortex tornado struck Joplin, Mo., killing nearly 160 people, injuring more than 1,100 and causing about $2.8 billion in damage.
As the city continues to recover and rebuild, more organizations are bringing their events to Joplin to help revive its economy.
“We’re actually seeing a lot of people now who are a little bit more aware of Joplin,” said Lenny Brubaker, director of sales for the Joplin CVB. “I think that’s kind of helped push them to hold their meetings here. They understand the impact meetings can have on the economy of a community.”
Incredibly, Joplin’s hotel district was relatively untouched, Brubaker said. Although most hotels weren’t damaged, the city’s hospitality industry shifted to serving basic needs as the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency used the hotels for emergency shelter and operations.
“We were fortunate that not many of our meeting hotels and spaces were affected, but we lost the use of everything for a while,” Brubaker said.
The city is working with a developer on a master plan for the tornado-ravaged areas that will also revamp other parts of the city and make the entire community feel connected, he said. Although there are no concrete plans yet, there is talk of a convention center or an arts and entertainment center.
“All that is being fleshed out right now, so how that’s going to look or how that’s going to happen, we just don’t know yet,” he said. “There’s so much changing, I don’t think we’ll even recognize this town in five years.”
St. John’s Mercy Hospital, which was razed and is being rebuilt, also presents Joplin with the opportunity to tap into new meeting markets. When complete, the state-of-the-art hospital will open doors in both the educational and medical arenas, Brubaker said.
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