Peoria Civic Center

Carver Arena
Capacity	9,919 (Ice hockey and indoor football); 11,433 (Basketball); 12,036 (Concerts)
Tenants
	Bradley Braves (NCAA) (1982–present); Peoria Prancers/Rivermen (IHL) (1982–1996); Peoria Rivermen (ECHL) (1996–2005); Peoria Pirates (IFL/AF2) (1999–2004, 2008–2009); Peoria Rough Riders (UIF) (2005–2006); Peoria Rivermen (AHL) (2005–2013); Peoria Rivermen (SPHL) (2013–present)

Peoria Civic Center
Peoria Civic Center
	Peoria Civic Center
Location	United States
Coordinates	40°41′31″N 89°35′39″W / 40.6920°N 89.5943°W
Operator	ASM GLobal[citation needed]
Built	April 30, 1979[citation needed] – 1982
Inaugurated	June 6, 1982[citation needed]
Renovated	1992[citation needed]
Expanded	2007
Construction cost	$64.2 million; ($270 million in 2023 dollars); $55 million (2007 renovations); ($85.8 million in 2023 dollars)
Banquet/ballroom	6,500 (Peoria Civic Center Ballroom); 300 (Lexus Club)
Theatre seating	2,244
Enclosed space
• Exhibit hall floor	108,668 square feet (10,095.6 m2)
• Breakout/meeting	17,355 square feet (1,612.3 m2)
• Ballroom	28,667 square feet (2,663.3 m2)
Website
	www.peoriaciviccenter.com

Peoria Civic Center is a convention center in downtown Peoria, Illinois. Designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Philip Johnson, it has an arena, theater, exhibit hall and meeting rooms. It opened in 1982 and completed an expansion to its lobby and meeting facilities in 2007. On the grounds of the Peoria Civic Center sits the massive "Sonar Tide," the last and largest sculpture of the pioneer of abstract minimalism Ronald Bladen.

History

The site of the Civic Center includes the spot at Liberty Street and Jefferson Street where Moses and Lucy Pettengill lived from 1836 to 1862; that house was part of the Underground Railroad and Moses was also an Underground Railroad "conductor". In 1862, the Pettingills moved out of downtown and to Moss Avenue, where the present Pettengill–Morron House was built in 1868. The downtown home was demolished in 1910 to make way for the Jefferson Hotel.^[2] The hotel, in turn, was imploded in 1978 to make way for the Civic Center.^[3]

The first event at the Civic Center was a home and garden show in the Exhibit Hall in February 1982.^[3]

Facilities

Carver Arena

Carver Arena is the home of the Bradley Braves men's basketball team and the Peoria Rivermen Southern Professional Hockey League ice hockey team (and previous incarnations of the Rivermen in the IHL, ECHL and AHL), and was formerly home to the Peoria Pirates arena football team.^{[citation needed]} Prior to playing at Carver Arena, Bradley hosted its games at Robertson Memorial Field House. It hosted the 1988 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament title game.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2013^[update], seating capacity was 9,919 for hockey and indoor football, 11,433 for basketball and up to 12,036 for concerts.^[4]

Carver Arena has been hosts to acts such as Eagles, Elton John, Bob Seger, Kiss, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Jason Aldean, Cher, James Taylor, Avenged Sevenfold, Shinedown, Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, The Harlem Globetrotters, World Wrestling Entertainment, Disney, Monster Jam, Disney on Ice, and basketball exhibition games for the Chicago Bulls.

Bob Seger set the record for the highest grossing concert in venue history on January 22, 2019. The previous record was held by an Elton John concert in 2011.^[5]

Blake Shelton is top selling country performer in venue history with his sold out February 28, 2019 performance.^[6]

Carver Arena hosted the Illinois High School Association boys' basketball state finals for two weeks every March from 1996 until 2019. The interactive March Madness Experience took place in the adjacent exhibition hall during the tournaments.^[7]

Exhibit halls

The Civic Center exhibit halls feature 108,668 square feet (10,095.6 m²) of space and can hold up to 7,265 persons. It can be divided into four smaller halls and is used for banquets, trade shows, and other events.^{[citation needed]} It hosts one of the largest chess tournaments in the world for the IHSA Illinois State Championship, which has about 1000 competitors a year.^{[citation needed]}

Theater

The 2,244-seat theater is used for concerts, Broadway shows, ballet, orchestra concerts, and other events. It contains ten dressing rooms including a star dressing room, four 12-person chorus rooms, two 8-person dressing rooms, two 6-person dressing rooms and a 3-person dressing room, and a 1,250-square-foot (116 m²) rehearsal hall backstage. There are 1,450 seats in the main level, 378 seats in the lower balcony and 348 seats in the upper balcony.^{[citation needed]}

Peoria Civic Center Theater has a long history of being a special venue for Stand-up comedy as Peoria is the hometown of Rolling Stone^[8] and Comedy Central's^[9] greatest stand-up comedian off all-time, Richard Pryor.

In 2014, A Night for Richard Benefit featuring George Lopez, Charlie Murphy, Cedric the Entertainer, D. L. Hughley, Eddie Griffin, and Mike Epps took place in the Peoria Civic Center Arena to raise funds for a statue of Richard Pryor.

Comedians George Carlin, Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Kevin Hart, Bob Hope, Jay Leno, Daniel Tosh, Tom Segura, Gabriel Iglesias, DeRay Davis, Lewis Black, Chris D'Elia, Jo Koy, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, Kevin James and Sam Kinison have all performed at the PCC Theater.

Steve Martin and Martin Short's Now You See Them, Soon You Won't event on April 20, 2019 set the record for top comedy show in Peoria Civic Center Theater's History. ^[10]

The Ameren Illinois Broadway in Peoria has a long history of bringing touring Broadway theatre productions to Peoria. The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, The Book of Mormon (musical), Rent (musical), Stomp (theatrical show), Wicked (musical), Blue Man Group, Jersey Boys, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (musical), Finding Neverland (musical), Mamma Mia!, Cinderella (2013 Broadway production) have all played in Peoria.

Tenants

Peoria Symphony Orchestra
Peoria Ballet

Meeting rooms

There are ten meeting rooms totaling 16,889 square feet (1,569.0 m²) which are divisible into 16 meeting rooms.^{[citation needed]}

Ballroom

The ballroom has flexible air walls that can divide the room into 9 different configurations and can hold up to 6500 people.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
^ Thompson, Katie (January–February 2008). "The Long Road to Freedom". Art & Society. Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Phelps, Tori (October 2002). "Peoria's Civic Center 20 Years". Arts Alive!. Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
^ "Arena". Peoria Civic Center. Archived from the original on 2014-01-20. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
^ Rodriguez, Stephanie (22 January 2019). "Bob Seger concert breaks Civic Center record". WEEK-TV. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
^ "Blake Shelton Breaks Country Record".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "IHSA March Madness". Peoria Civic Center. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
^ "Rolling Stone Top 50 Comics of All Time".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "Comedy Central Greatest Standups of All Time".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "Steve Martin and Martin Short - Peoria Civic Center".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

Official website
Carver Arena at BradleyBraves.com — short history of Bradley University basketball at Carver Arena

[inflation-US-1] 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.

[2] Thompson, Katie (January–February 2008). "The Long Road to Freedom". Art & Society. Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

[aa-20years-3] Phelps, Tori (October 2002). "Peoria's Civic Center 20 Years". Arts Alive!. Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

[pcccap-4] "Arena". Peoria Civic Center. Archived from the original on 2014-01-20. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

[5] Rodriguez, Stephanie (22 January 2019). "Bob Seger concert breaks Civic Center record". WEEK-TV. Retrieved 11 August 2020.

[6] "Blake Shelton Breaks Country Record".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[7] "IHSA March Madness". Peoria Civic Center. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

[8] "Rolling Stone Top 50 Comics of All Time".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[9] "Comedy Central Greatest Standups of All Time".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[10] "Steve Martin and Martin Short - Peoria Civic Center".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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