Louisville, KY - Throughout the past six and a half days, including Sunday evening’s bonus concert, Louisville’s Kentucky Fair & Expo Center has provided the perfect setting for a Southern Gospel Music lover’s paradise. Soloists, duets, trios and, of course, quartets, have provided fans from across the US, Canada and several foreign countries with exactly what they expected from the National Quartet Convention - great music and more great music. The question of the week, however, seemed to be - “how can I be in two places at one time? There’s too much great music.” This was the comment as one excited radio station representative from the state of North Carolina commented as he scanned the long list of NQC events.


Certainly no one attending this year’s National Quartet Convention can say there was a shortage of things to do. Gospel music lovers from across the nation, as well as several foreign countries began to arrive early on Monday morning (September 11) for the 49th Annual National Quartet Convention. In fact, even before the first musical notes rang out at the 2006 National Quartet Convention, fans were lining up to register for tickets for the 2007 event. “This is hopefully a good indication of what the future holds for the National Quartet Convention,” stated Clarke Beasley, Executive Vice President of the National Quartet Convention, as he watched his fine staff assist fans who were purchasing tickets for next year’s event.


The annual event, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2007, transformed the Kentucky Fair & Expo Center’s Freedom Hall and South Wing into a Gospel music lover’s paradise each year during the second week of September. Over 40,000 people attend the event annually, representing 40 states and a half dozen countries, including Norway, Ireland and Canada, making the NQC Christian music’s largest marketplace and largest annual event. According to the Greater Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, the NQC generates more than an 11 million dollar economic impact for its host city of Louisville.


Attendees of this year’s Convention encountered considerable changes as a result of the renovations at the Expo Center. The Exhibit Hall, which features over 450 exhibitors, was moved from its long-time residence in the East Hall to the South Wing, leaving attendees and exhibitors roaming around trying to locate everything from the food court to the tunnel to Freedom Hall; however, Beasley says overall everyone has adjusted well. “We’ve made a very major effort to try to make this transitional period as smooth as possible, and even though we were forced to move our exhibitors into a different location, our exhibitor sales were up. We had more exhibitors than in past years, and many of those exhibitors experienced increased sales. Although we are encountering some growing pains for a brief period, we know the end result will be very positive for our event when all the renovations are complete.”


The 49th Annual National Quartet Convention concluded this evening (Saturday) as the final concert was held in Freedom Hall, with 17 of Southern Gospel Music’s top artists on stage between 6:00pm and midnight, providing the perfect conclusion to an exciting week. “Overall, the week has proven to be a great success,” Beasley stated. “With evening concert attendance holding steady, booth sales increasing, afternoon showcase tickets dramatically increasing and significant involvement from the church community in all of our activities, we feel we have the NQC pointed in a very positive direction for the future.”


As the 2006 event concludes, thoughts immediately turn toward the 2007 event, which will take place September 10 - 15. “We have some exciting things already being planned in celebration of our 50th anniversary. We have already again scheduled the Sunday evening bonus concert to kick off the 2007 event, and there will be many special surprises that we will be announcing throughout the year.


To obtain complete information on the 2007 National Quartet Convention, visit NQC