Angela Manning Wins Hospitality Award

The Ruston Lincoln Parish Convention & Visitors Bureau is proud to announce the 2013 recipient of the Lincoln Parish Hospitality Award is Angela Manning, Director of the North Louisiana Exposition Center. The award will be presented at the Ruston Lincoln Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Banquet on February 4th at the Ruston Civic Center. 

Throughout the year Manning has worked to bring several events to Lincoln Parish. During 2013 the exhibition center hosted the Louisiana Peach Festival Rodeo, North Louisiana Team Roping, and Cotton Country Horse Show. The exhibition center also brought multi-day events to Lincoln Parish such as the North Center High School Rodeo, World Series Team Roping, Run for the Diamonds and the Sugar Bowl Classic Palomino & Quarter Horse Show. 

“These events are a true economic tourism engine for Lincoln Parish. Participants, as well as fans, friends and family traveling in support, are often staying one to three nights in Lincoln Parish hotels and RV locations. These attendees are eating in local restaurants and shopping at local retailers resulting in a visible impact on the parish’s economy,” says CVB Marketing Director Amanda Quimby.

“I feel honored and blessed to receive this award and give God all the glory,” says Manning. “I do this for the children. I grew up in this area riding horses and attending rodeos, mostly in outdoor arenas. I know the special feeling that comes with walking into an indoor arena like ours.”

Angela Manning
2013 Hospitality Award Recipient

Manning has plans in the upcoming years to improve the exhibition center to make way for even more events.

“We’ve been working toward getting a covered warm up area and 100 more stalls added to the arena so that we can host bigger, better, three-day shows,” says Manning. She explains these are amenities many show participants require, and the exhibition center would beneficial greatly.

Manning is also excited about the 2014 calendar as it is loaded with new and reoccurring events. Throughout the year the North Louisiana Exhibition Center will host the Rabbit Breeders Show in April, Antique Tractor Show & Pull in August, as well as multiple high school rodeos, three-day Youth Rodeo Bible Camps, horse handling clinics, and a barrel racing clinic with world champion barrel racer Lance Graves. For a complete list of events, visit www.nlec.lincolnparish.org.

The Lincoln Parish Hospitality Award began in 1999 to reward and recognize members of the community who provide a significant benefit to the tourism economy of Lincoln Parish during the past year.