Kalamazoo's Wings Event Center Earns Clean, Safe Accreditation

An emailed press release came in and it got me to wondering about Kalamazoo's Wings Stadium and it's future.

First things first. A round of applause for the crew working at Wings Event Center. They achieved something name the "GBAC STAR™ Facility Accreditation". What it means is they picked up this industry group's, (Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR™) accreditation, which it touts is the "the gold standard for prepared facilities'. Following the guidelines of GBAC, a Division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, Wings Event Center "has implemented the most stringent protocols for cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention in its facility."

While this may not mean much to you and me right now, with the K-Wings skipping the current shortened ECHL season, and with concerts just a distant memory at this point, eventually, you would think, things will move back to normal and we'll get hockey and concerts and events.

"We are committed to ensuring a clean, safe, and healthy environment for our employees and guests. The GBAC accreditation is viewed as the industry leader and standard for cleaning and infectious disease management. This accreditation will help with giving our promoters, user groups, and partners confidence that we have a safe facility for their artists, production teams, organizers, and attendees.” The GBAC program verifies that Wings Event Center implements best practices to prepare for, respond to and recover from outbreaks and pandemics. - Rob Underwood, General Manager at Wings Event Center

But an underlying question for me is the future of Wings Event Center. Recent events with Southwest Michigan First and such indicate some local movers and shakers seem very intent on building a convention and event center in downtown Kalamazoo. Does that bode well for Wings Event Center? You'll have to decide for yourself, but a community this size supporting a downtown arena and WEC, but that does at least bring questions to mind.