Jacksonville urges businesses to apply for RNC vendor spots

Prospective vendors for the 2020 Republican National Convention in Jacksonville can now register to service the event.

The Jacksonville 2020 Host Committee opened registration for all vendors Monday. The vendors can register at the host committee’s website.

The online registration form reads like a tourist attraction pamphlet noting the Jacksonville area is “home to 22 miles of white sandy beaches,” in hopes of drawing vendors.

The initial part of the convention will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. But the key elements such as President Donald Trump’s formal Republican Party nomination for reelection will take place in Jacksonville at the VyStar Credit Union Veterans Memorial Arena downtown sometime between Aug.24th and 27th.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry aggressively pitched the RNC after Trump complained North Carolina officials would continue social distancing measures during the convention due to the threat of the spread of coronavirus. Trump said he didn’t want anything less than a full arena.

Curry has also said bringing the RNC to Jacksonville would be a much-needed economic boost to Jacksonville and the First Coast area whose economy, like others, has been ravaged by COVID-19 shutdowns. He said the event will be worth about $100 million in local economic impact, though there has been no study to back that up.

Originally, about 50,000 Republican Party delegates and other party faithful were expected to attend the event in Charlotte. It’s not clear how many will show up in Jacksonville.

Local tourism officials have already said they expect local hotels and vacation rentals to be sold out for about five counties in the Northeast Florida area the week the convention takes place.

But moving the RNC to Jacksonville has also drawn criticism. The Florida Education Association called the move “reckless” considering tens of thousands of people will flood downtown Jacksonville as COVID-19 shows little sign of abating. Late August also coincides with the return to school for students for the first time since the pandemic caused the closure of campuses and in-person instruction in March.

About two dozen community leaders in Jacksonville called on Curry to cancel the Jacksonville leg of the RNC because it would be too disruptive. They also worry the RNC would likely inflame exposed nerves after several weeks of protests in Jacksonville and across the nation against police brutality by civil rights groups.

However, JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis sees the RNC event as an opportunity for local merchants and he urged local businesses to submit applications for vendors at the event.

“Jump on this opportunity to earn some of the millions of dollars that will be spent in our community,” Davis said on his Twitter account Monday.