SAN ANTONIO – For the first time ever, San Antonio is preparing to host the annual NAACP Convention this weekend.
The convention will be held from Saturday until Tuesday at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. Expected to draw 8,000 to 10,000 people, it is also projected to bring about a $10 million economic impact to the city.
Volunteers gathered at the convention center Thursday, stuffing bags and helping to make sure everything was ready.
"I don't want to miss a second of it at all,” said Joyce Keyes, a San Antonio NAACP member, who called the convention "history in the making."
The convention is coming on an auspicious year for both the city, which is celebrating its Tricentennial, and the local NAACP branch, which was formed 100 years ago.
"We're going to have a great big birthday party over the next couple of days," said Michael Turner, convention planning committee chairman.
Turner said the convention's original room block is sold out, and they have had to get additional rooms.
With the convention less than two days away, local volunteers are getting excited.
"We're just so happy about it. I've been to many," said Horace Brown Jr., the first vice president of the San Antonio Branch NAACP. "And so to have it come here and to have it come to such a great city as San Antonio, we're just all excited about it."