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Partner Spotlight: Portland Expo Center

By CEVA, 05/20/20, 2:45PM PDT

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The Portland Expo Center (PEC) has become a very important partner to the Columbia Empire Volleyball Association and is a staple in our yearly planning process.

Most notably, the Expo Center hosts the CEVA Regional Championships, and has done so since 2018.  While the venue size doesn’t allow everybody to play on the same weekend under the same roof, the staff of the facility have been major supporters in helping to make the event the best experience possible for our members, staff, and other partners. 

The PEC staff deserve a lion’s share of the credit for the success of our Regional Championships the past two years.  We have found them to be incredibly flexible in accommodating our needs, receptive of all kinds of feedback from our staff and constituents, and very willing to go above and beyond for our numerous vendors and partners. 

The PEC staff developed an online purchase system for parking in 2019, helped adjust our court layout to accommodate a retail space for adidas, and has also been able to work with us with our equipment maintenance needs throughout the year. 

In the Fall of 2019, CEVA and PEC entered into an agreement to store CEVA’s portable volleyball courts and rental equipment on site at the Expo Center.  This was a major step in our expanding partnership and allows CEVA to have ready access to our equipment not only for Regionals, but for our numerous other rental partners who utilize the materials.

Known as “Portland’s Gathering Place,” the Expo Center hosts a number of family-friendly events each year, including RV shows, a large Christmas bazaar, boat shows, swap meets, and trade shows.  It also hosts a drive-in movie spectacular and major international shows such as Cirque-Du-Soleil.

CEVA looks forward to being back in PEC in 2021 for the return of our Regional Championships, scheduled for the last weekend of April and first weekend of May.  Age groups who are playing on the different weekends will be announced at a later date.


CEVA Executive Director Cody March on the partnership with PEC:

Dating back to when our Regional Championships moved to Portland, we’ve been very lucky to work with very dedicated facilities and staff.  The staff of the Expo Center are first class in their dedication to our event’s success, their interactions with our staff, and their flexibility in adapting our event to create the best customer experience.  We consider the staff members at PEC our friends and our family – they’re critical to our event’s success and our region’s success.  We look forward to continuing to support PEC however possible and working with them to make our events even better in future years.