Thousands flock to Reading for annual Jehovah's Witness conventions

[Guest Nicole]

During their weekends in Berks County for the annual Jehovah's Witnesses conventions each summer, the Outland family from Baltimore has a few must-stops on their agenda.

Veronica Outland enjoys the deals at VF Outlet in Wyomissing, while Eric Outland breaks into a big smile when mentioning a meal at Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill in Spring Township.The Outlands have been attending the regional conventions in Reading for 10 years, missing only one year to attend an international convention.

This weekend marked the first of five three-day weekend conventions held at Santander Arena this summer.The Outlands often volunteer to help during the convention for their congregation, and later come to a convention to enjoy the symposiums, dramatizations, lessons, testimonials and singing from the seats."It's a great location," Veronica Outland said of Reading. "The city's not too big, but big enough to accommodate us."The Outlands weren't fortunate enough to find rooms at the new DoubleTree by Hilton across the street and are instead staying in Limerick, Montgomery County, for the weekend.Dan Hoch, DoubleTree's food and beverage manager, said the hotel is sold out all five weekends of the conventions, and the hotel staff was more than ready for the rush."It was something we probably overprepared for," Hoch said. "For us, it's just about suiting the needs of all the guests, just like any other concert, and adjusting to how they like to be serviced."For the conventions, that includes offering buffet-style meals in the hotel's ballrooms so that attendees can eat without too much of a time strain to get to the next event. Hoch said the hotel also widened its check-in and check-out windows knowing that those days would be the busiest.Hoch said the feedback has been positive."Guests love to be able to walk in, do their thing all day and then literally walk 50 feet to the hotel," he said. "They come in and enjoy it and they don't have to do anything other then focus on what their mission is."Saturday's services drew 5,579 Witnesses and guests, but event organizers said that number likely will grow to more than 6,000 for today's events.Overall, organizers expect more than 25,000 people from 225 congregations in Pennsylvania and Maryland to attend the conventions.This year's theme is "Remain Loyal to Jehovah!" with symposiums focused on Jehovah's loyalty, examples of individuals in the Bible who were either loyal or disloyal and encouraging attendees to pursue loyalty in their relationships with friends, family and God.The free conventions are open to the public, and Jehovah's Witnesses invite people of all ages to attend.The conventions will continue the next four weekends.The Aug. 5-7 convention will be held in Spanish.Sessions begin at 9:30 a.m. each of the three days of a convention.

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