U.S. Conference of Mayors moves 2027 meeting from Providence to Atlanta after Smiley loss

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley lost the Democratic Primary for the city’s mayorship earlier this month to challenger and state Rep. David Morales. And now the capital city has lost its status as the host of the U.S. Conference of Mayors 2027 annual meeting.

Providence’s hosting of the conference, first announced in 2024, would have run June 24 through 27 next year. But the conference has pulled out and is moving the annual meeting to Atlanta, the group’s CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran told Rhode Island Current Wednesday.

It’s the organization’s tradition, Cochran explained, to reconsider the host city when a change in the mayorship happens in the year before its annual meeting.

“We believe the mayor serving in the year leading up to the meeting should be closely involved in both the bid and the planning that follows,” Cochran wrote.

The move took the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as GoProvidence, by surprise.

Kristen Adamo, the bureau’s president and CEO, said Wednesday in an email that she was unaware a change in the mayorship could prompt relocation of the conference. Adamo added the Conference of Mayors hadn’t contacted the bureau directly about the canceled plans.

Adamo expressed concern at the loss of expected economic impact from the approximately 200 mayors and their staffs, who would have descended upon the city to attend the conference but also to wine, dine and shop at local businesses.

“It is extremely disappointing to lose an event that has a direct spend impact of more than $2 million for Rhode Island,” Adamo said.

There were also logistical headaches attached to the change in plans. Convention center dates are usually booked more than a year in advance, Adamo said.

“In the meetings and conventions world, this is extremely last minute,” Adamo wrote, “but we have a top-notch team that is reaching out [to] meeting planners as we speak. Our industry typically books events out 18 months or more. To fill these dates will be extremely challenging.”

Smiley’s Sept. 9 loss in Democratic mayoral primary saw him secure 46.43% of the vote, compared to Morales’ 53.57%.

Providence itself has not incurred any costs related to either hosting the meeting or its cancellation, mayoral spokesperson Carl Austin Miller Grondin told Rhode Island Current.

A decisive victory and a potential new chapter for Rhode Island’s capital city

Miller Grondin said the city was notified Saturday.

GoProvidence also has no contract with the Conference of Mayors, Adamo said, and added that any contracts would instead be between the organization and individual hotels.

Conference CEO Cochran added that hosting the annual get-together is a big commitment for host cities, and that “a new mayor’s first months in office are already full.”

“We know Providence’s new mayor will want to devote that time to hitting the ground running for residents, and we look forward to working with them,” Cochran added.

Providence last hosted the annual mayors’ meeting in 2009.

Morales will face Republican Dave Talan in the Nov. 3 general election.