Riverway Summit will include Spooky Nook tour

The 2021 Great Miami Riverway Summit that will happen April 30 won’t only feature Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill owner Sam Beiler, but also the $144 million project he is building inside the former Champion Paper mill, organizers announced Thursday.

This media outlet previously reported Beiler would speak about what is to be the country’s largest indoor sports complex. Riverway Director Dan Foley, who leads efforts to attract tourists to the region, announced the under-construction complex itself, which is scheduled to open around the end of the year, will be part of what summit attendees will see as part of their $30-per-person (plus a $3.46 fee) tickets, along with box lunches and refreshments by Two Women in a Kitchen.

The summit will happen from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a bus trip to the 1.3-million-square-foot facility starting around 3:30 p.m., Foley said. Tickets can be bought at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2021-great-miami-riverway-summit-tickets-146420163651 .

The summit will happen outdoors, beneath the city’s McDulin parking garage, to protect people from the weather. Tickets must be purchased by Monday, with none sold at the door.

There will be free parking,

The riverway is inviting business owners, community leaders, real estate developers, marketers and tourism professionals from along the entire Great Miami’s route. Also welcome, officials announced, is anyone interested in the Great Miami River and the region’s economic development.

The 3:30 p.m. tour-start time will allow crews to move their construction equipment out of the way after their day’s work.

“It’s really exciting that the city saw potential in an old paper mill to be something else,” Foley said. “And it’s doubly exciting that an investor felt the same way. That’s what we’re trying to highlight that day: We think Spooky Nook is an example for repurposing properties that have outlived their past life, and trying to give them new life, to promote economic growth along the river.”

The 99-mile-long Great Miami Riverway is an effort to attract local and national tourists to activities in communities along the 99-mile stretch of the river and communities between Sidney and Hamilton, including Middletown, Franklin, Miamisburg and Dayton.

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