I-X Center set to bow out as exhibit hall with final consumer show

The final consumer show to be held at the International Exposition Center is coming up, capping the venue’s 40-year run of exhibits, trade shows and other events. The three-day Piston Powered Auto-Rama will roll into the center from Friday to Sunday, March 27-29.

Many large-scale events have been touting their I-X Center appearance as their final one before the building transitions from hosting shows to private ownership. The auto show — under way — ends Sunday, March 1.

Typically, more than 70 events were held annually, adding up to about 125 operating days, said Scott McGorty, who has been with the I-X Center for about four years.

But he said those numbers do not include private events, like when the Greater Cleveland Film Commission used it as a rehearsal facility for the 2025 movie “Superman,” which was filmed in Cleveland. Warner Bros. was here, he said, and Hulu and Disney officials also came in.

Outside companies produced about 97% of the consumer shows staged at the center, McGorty said. The I-X Center produced only a handful of events, like Trick or Treat Street, Christmas Connection, Indoor Amusement Park, the Fabulous Food Show and the upcoming Piston Powered Auto-Rama.

So many shows regularly filled the cavernous space over the years: Boats stood without water, offering a chance for water lovers to dream. Curious-minded travelers could walk in to dozens of recreational vehicles on display. Home and garden shows offered advice on DIY projects.

“There’s been a lot of shows,” he said. “I think anyone who has any ties to the building in terms of being a guest, a vendor or promoter or even bystanders who have been to the I-X Center over the years, it’s hard to not feel any emotion as you go into this final show. Especially with the Piston Powered show, it’s one of our largest events that we produce every single year.”

That show, which puts engines and machines in the spotlight, will attract more than 50,000 attendees.

The center, which opened for shows in 1985, provided more than a half a million flexible square feet of event and meeting space, 26 flexible breakout rooms, a 16,000-square-foot ballroom, two street-level drive-in doors, nine truck docks and ample parking. It’s tucked next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, which made for convenient egress for out-of-town attendees or show sponsors.

The space hosted about 1 million people per year, McGorty said. Since 1985, 50 million people have been inside for its array of shows. The 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention set the record for the largest show the building had ever hosted: The massive collectibles gathering saw 100,000 people go through the turnstiles in four days.

But the consumer attraction that really resonated over the years was the indoor amusement park and its catchy jingle, McGorty said. (“So cool, so fun, if you’re not there you’re the only one!”)

McGorty lauded what he called a “generational span” for the events. “I hear so many stories from people who have talked about that and remember coming to the I-X Center as a kid and now they bring their family to other events in the building,” he said.

Now those families will have one final consumer show to check out as a range of piston-powered machines will cover 500,000 square feet. (A non-consumer show, the three-day Dru Joyce Classic basketball tournament, is scheduled to take place April 10-12 at the center.)

The Piston Powered Auto-Rama show actually has roots to the 1960s. Previously it was at the convention center downtown as the Auto-Rama. The I-X Center produced its own piston-powered show, and in the early 2010s, both of those combined to make the one massive show that exists today.

Center officials call the Piston Powered Auto-Rama “a rite of spring” as it celebrates its diamond anniversary — the 60th. This year, the show will include “diamond spots,” special cars and machines chosen to be focal points, McGorty said.

“Anything that has a piston that makes it go is in this show,” he said. “That’s been our fun tagline for many years, and it’s still true to this day.” Militarized equipment, which includes a tank, also will be featured.

That’s “very cool from a building perspective because we were that Cleveland tank plant for the Korean and Vietnam War back in the day,” McGorty said. Built in 1942 and originally the Cleveland Bomber Plant, it became known as the Cleveland Tank Plant and went through various iterations over the years. Military production halted in 1970. In 1977, Park Corp. of Charleston, West Virginia, bought the facility and opened it as the International Exposition Center in 1985.

Last year it was reported an unnamed manufacturer planned to take over the center, but the building’s operators remain silent on the tenant and specifics of the deal. Industrial Commercial Properties and Industrial Realty Group are the two companies that lease the city-owned center.

Now, it will go out with a roar as the engines roll through. “It’s a nice farewell to the building,” McGorty said.

Tribune News Service