Portland Exposition Arena

The Portland Exposition Building, also known as The Expo, is a sports and exhibition venue (convention center) building complex in Portland, Maine. The complex includes five inter-connected buildings with 330,000 square feet of exhibition space and 10 meeting rooms. The Center is adjacent to the Hadlock Field and the Portland Ice Arena. Phish, Ani Difranco, Natalie Merchant, The Monkees, and Rusted Root have played at the venue. It has also hosted trade shows and celebrations. It has been used for the Maine Red Claws babsketball team, Portland High School (Portland, Maine) Bulldogs basketball games, and indoor track events have been held at the Expo. In 2007 the Expo became the home of Maine Roller Derby. The main arena currently has 3,100 seats, making it one of the smallest to house an NBA-D League team. The building was designed by Fredrick A. Thompson and was built in 1914 at a cost of $80,944. It is the second oldest arena in continuous operation in the United States (behind Matthews Arena in Boston, Massachusetts). Locker rooms for Fitzpatrick Stadium, the visiting clubhouse for Hadlock Field as well as the Portland High School locker rooms are located downstairs. Home to over 270 events per year, the Portland Exposition Building hosts trade shows, concerts, sporting events, conferences, civic meetings, brew fests, High school indoor track meets, ski shows and other special events. Nearly 600,000 patrons pass through the Expo's turnstile each year. Bordered by the Portland Ice Arena and Hadlock Field, the Portland Exposition Building is the original centerpiece of the modern sports complex on Park Avenue.