by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
It’s not as though Jacksonville is unfamiliar with hosting military reunions.
Not very likely, since 45,000 military retirees already live in the neighborhood.
The best estimates put the number of reunions held here each year between 100 and 200, which certainly sounds like feel-good numbers. But they do lose some of their oomph when compared to the 15,000 that are held each year around the country.
Enter Military Reunions Inc., a new company determined to put a bigger slice of the meet market on the city’s plate.
“Until now, no one in Northeast Florida has specialized in attracting and developing the extensive military reunion market,” said retired Navy Rear Admiral Kevin Delaney, president and CEO of the new company. “Military Reunions Inc., is now poised to provide a full range of service for turn-key, highly successful and totally memorable reunions.”
Delaney certainly knows the area he’s planning to market to the rest of the country. He completed three tours of duty in Jacksonville before retiring in 1998. He commanded the helicopter wing at Mayport (1987-89), the Naval Air Station (1989-91) and returned in 1995 as the regional commander of Navy Region Southeast.
“Jacksonville is the most sought-after duty station in the Navy,” he said. “We’re the third largest concentration of Naval forces in the world today, after Norfolk and San Diego.”
According to The Reunion Network Magazine, Jacksonville ranks 14th in the military reunion market. The top three cities, which host more than 300 military reunions every year, are Branson/Springfield, Mo., San Diego and Norfolk/Virginia Beach.
“The nice thing about military reunions is very, very few of them stay in one location year after year; they like to rotate it around the country,” said Delaney. “So at least every third or fourth year it’s within a close proximity of where some members of that reunion group live.
“It’s only a matter of time before people consider something in the Southeast, and we think we’ve got the most to offer.”
The idea for Military Reunions came out of a conversation Delaney had with some people in the hotel industry about a year ago at a Chamber of Commerce function.
“They were bemoaning that nobody in Jacksonville or Northeast Florida was really going out, trying to attract military reunions,” he recalled.
Delaney joined two others to form Military Reunions: Rhonda Ferguson, president of Viani Communications, who has an extensive background in marketing and event planning; and retired Navy Capt. Steve Bagby, former executive officer of Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
Delaney’s principal business will continue to be Delaney & Associates Consulting. The firm mainly deals with small and mid-sized businesses for emerging technologies that have not done business with the government before.
While some of those agencies are on the state and local level, most of the contacts are with the Department of Defense in the federal sector.
Before officially launching the new company, Military Reunions compiled a data base that now includes information on 1,400 reunions that have just been held or are about to take place.
“In many cases, the reunions for this year, next year and maybe even the year after have already been set,” said Delaney. “So it’s going to take a little time to cultivate this.
“But you need to put your marker down at some point. We’re contacting folks, trying to spur some interest. Hopefully, we can generate some very good business for the hospitality industry here in Northeast Florida.”
The effort has is already receiving good reviews.
“We are excited about this new company,” said Kitty Ratcliffe, president of the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Kevin Delaney and his partners will help us capture more of this market, and everyone in Jacksonville and the beaches will benefit.”
Knowing the region and what it has to offer will allow Military Reunions to offer packages that mean less work and more play time for visitors.
“What we think we can do is use buying power to broker them a far better deal than they can get on their own and do it professionally so that it’s a turn-key operation,” said Delaney. “We’ll put together whatever they want to do. All they have to do is show up and have a good time.”
Military Reunions has plenty of cards to play, Delaney pointed out. Good weather, beaches and accessible military bases for tours. Nearby are Disney, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Kennedy Space Center and Daytona Beach.
“We’ve also got the cruise ships coming out of here, and we think that would be a natural fit,” he said. “There are so many things to do that are very affordable.
“Once we get the chance to show off Jacksonville, and they all see what a great reunion city this is, then we think word of mouth and a whole lot of other things will really jump-start this business.”
(For more information about Military Reunions, call 688-0003. The e-mail address is [email protected].)