“We are looking at how do we use this opportunity to accelerate some investments that will be meaningful into the future for elevating our downtown experience,” Dickstein said. “There’s nothing bad about having a global spotlight on you unless you don’t provide a good experience.”
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Between May 23 and 26, Dayton will host the 2025 spring session of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly, which will be the first time one of the organization’s annual sessions has been held stateside since 2003. The last U.S. session was hosted in Orlando, Florida.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly brings together legislators from NATO member countries to consider security issues and policies. The assembly consists of 274 delegates from 32 NATO member countries, plus delegates from associate countries.
The spring assembly coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords, which put an end to the war in Bosnia.
The accords “brought peace to an area of the Balkans that had been just devastated by unbelievable atrocities,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, during closing remarks at a NATO parliamentary summit in July. Turner helped arrange for the spring session to be in Dayton.
The May event could bring about 650 delegates and their family members and staff to Dayton, said Dickstein. The city manager noted that the total visitor count could be between 1,000 to 3,000 people, which includes members of the international press and other interested observers and parties.
Officials say a variety of local partners are working to together to prepare for this big moment when all eyes will be on the Dayton region.
The Dayton City Commission recently had the first reading of a revised appropriations ordinance for 2024 that includes $1.5 million for capital improvement projects to prepare for the parliamentary assembly.
Dickstein said exactly how that funding will be used has not been fully determined but some money will help upgrade the Main Street corridor.
Assembly members are expected to meet at sites scattered across the region, which could include the Dayton Convention Center, located along South Main Street in downtown. Other major downtown attractions and gathering spaces located on Main Street include the Dayton Arcade, the Levitt Pavilion Dayton and Courthouse Square.
“This is a major opportunity for the United States to showcase to the world Midwest USA,” Dickstein said. “We are going to be on a global stage.”
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
City funding may help improve the physical environment, possibly with new banners and street-level additions or upgrades. Programmatic investments and art installations are being considered.
Streetscape projects that the city already planned for 2025 hopefully will be completed in time for the NATO session, Dickstein said. She said the city wants whatever improvements it makes to be permanent so they benefit the local community long after the parliamentary assembly session is over.
Montgomery County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman said this event is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for Dayton and Montgomery County.
She said local partners are looking at enhancing signage and wayfinding elements and there likely will be lighting improvements made downtown. She noted that the county is investing $1.1 million into its fountain at Courthouse Square to help activate what’s being transformed into a special gathering space.
The county and other partners are helping refresh and revitalize Wright brothers “Flyover” sculpture, which is a 150-foot-long sculpture on a median on South Main Street near the Dayton Convention Center.
The sculpture was power-washed recently, and it will be cleaned and will see irrigation, landscaping and lighting improvements,
Lieberman said the arts community likely will get involved, and there’s been talk of creating projects that pay homage to the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The commissioner said a planning team is meeting regularly to try to ensure the event goes off without a hitch.
“I think downtown is going to be shining,” she said.
The Downtown Dayton Partnership is working closely with a committee of partners on strategies to take advantage of this incredible opportunity to show off downtown Dayton on a global scale, said Katie Meyer, president of the partnership.
“We are ramping up our beautification efforts, including elements like flowers and landscaping, wayfinding signage, banners and cleanliness,” she said. “We’re also developing a program to activate vacant or underutilized spaces that help celebrate our community and culture.”
She said other creative “placemaking” projects are in the works. She said the partner groups also are trying to figure out how to minimize the challenges the event and the security details involved may create for downtowners.
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