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Venues & Destinations
Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park Celebrating Final Season After 40 Years of Serving the Chicagoland Area
1/22/2022
The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois, is celebrating its 40th Anniversary and Farewell Season in 2022. Since its beginning in 1981, owned and operated by the Elmhurst-based Greco family, the Odeum Expo Center has been a Chicagoland venue for concerts, indoor sports, haunted houses, trade shows, and so much more for over 40 years. Elk Grove Village-based trucking and warehouse business Arrow Trans Corp will be relocating to the 12.9-acre site on June 1st. Back in the ‘70’s, the Greco family owned a hockey team called the Chicago Warriors and the expenses for the team to play at the old Chicago Stadium (where the Blackhawks played until it became the United Center) were tremendous. The future of the Odeum began when Emil “EG” Greco decided to build his own hockey arena. Not one to ever do things normally, EG built a facility that had 3 ice rinks and thus Hat Trick Ice Arena was born. However, soon after with the state of the economy at the time, the Greco’s decided to switch over from ice to indoor soccer. No compressors needed to make ice and no power needed to run the compressors 24/7. Anyone could play soccer with a pair of shoes, shorts, and a ball. So, on November 13th, 1981, the Odeum Sports & Expo Center began… and the rest is history. 
In its four decades, the Odeum has hosted various events, including concerts by Kiss, Alabama, Kenny Rogers, and Amy Grant, haunted houses with Rob Zombie, both a Spring and Autumn Arts & Crafts Festival, mixed martial arts matches, semi-pro soccer and football teams, rodeos, pro wrestling, dog shows, circuses, religious and ethnic events along with numerous public and private trade expositions. Last year, the Odeum also became a DuPage County Health Department COVID-19 drive-through testing site. The Greco family greatly appreciates the opportunity they’ve had with over 40 years of support from their staff and community partners: The Village of Villa Park, DuPage Convention and Visitor Bureau as well as so many other private and public organizations. They specifically said they could not have weathered the years without the support of all the Chicagoland area guests that entered into the Odeum. In its 40 year life span, on average, over 1.2 million visitors passed through The Odeum doors on an annual basis. Everyone was like family to the Greco’s. In a statement from Odeum owners, Phil and Sis Greco said: "We have had a lot of fun and have met fantastic and unique people from around the country, so we've enjoyed this business. We're still booking and making things happen. We currently have a full plate seven days a week with indoor soccer and lacrosse through the end of March, and then we go into our spring season of special events through May 31, 2022." The Greco’s and the Odeum Expo Center staff invite the community to come celebrate with them in their 40th Anniversary and Farewell Season of shows this spring. If you would like to schedule one last event at the Odeum Expo Center, call them at 630-941-9292 or visit their website at www.OdeumExpo.com for more information or to see a schedule of the remaining events happening this season. THANKS FOR ALL THE MEMORIES … THAT’S ALL FOLKS !!! PHYLLIS ‘MG’ PHIL AND SIS GRECO Contact: questions@exhibitormagazine.com |
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