Covelli Centre — Attraction in Youngstown

We went to Covelli Centre for a wrestling tournament. Security treated us like we were trying to smuggle in a weapon because we had a bag of snacks and a few bottles of water (for the 2 toddlers and baby we have). I walked a block back to my car, in the cold, so my kids could eat, only to come back and learn they should have allowed us some snacks for our small children, per their own policy. While I was talking with one security personnel another damn near put his hand in my 12 year old daughter's chest to stop her as she stood nearby waiting for me, because she had a to go container of food which held her breakfast and a hot chocolate. The security guy I was speaking with told me I could pre-make bottles for my 3 month old (which I could not because they are only good for an hour) and I could only bring in one water bottle for making bottles (I needed at least 2 to have enough water to make bottles for the day). Once we finally got in we sat in an end section which was nearest the mat my daughter would be wrestling on. We were not allowed to use the restrooms nearest the section we were sitting in but instead were made to walk down 2 flights of stairs every time one of our toddlers needed to use the restroom. They also would not allow my toddlers to play (with myself present) in a carpeted area right behind our seats even though they were simultaneously failing to keep the stairs going down to the restrooms cleared of people who were sitting on them when we were trying to go up and down to the restroom and allowing other people to sit in the carpeted area they told us we needed to keep clear. When we complained to security about this we were denied a request to speak to a supervisor until we sought the supervisor on our own. Then they made the other family clear the carpeted area and allowed us access to it which wasn't at all what we wanted or expected. We just wanted everyone to be treated fairly/decently. We paid $15 per person to get in; The customer service did not match that price at all. The only positive was the security supervisor I spoke to when I returned from my car was very, very nice. He apologized for the way we were treated and confirmed we should have been allowed some snacks for the kids. This isn't a place I'm likely to visit again as we live over 2 hours away but given the choice I will definitely choose not to...

Covelli centre had a huge food giveaway which I attended. I will give the end result 1st: a large beautiful ham for Christmas dinner, 2 cans cranberries, 2 jars gravy, 2 gallons milk, potatoes, apples, 3 tubes of cinnamon rolls, a large package of large sausage links, a package of cheese, a package of sweet potatoes, and so much more! Now, to get all we needed to eat for Christmas week, I had to get in a line of cars at Market Street and Breaden at 9:45am and try to be patient as the line crawled for a minute and then did not move more than 2 car lengths for over an hour! Eventually there line moved all the way to Front Street and down Front to Covelli and then into the parking lot where we sat for over another hour once we were in formation in one of the lots. The cars were parked so closely that I couldn't open my door without hitting the car next to me so its a good thing I have a good bladder, although there were lots of people popping out of their cars and running toward the building!!! Altogether, my experience from beginning to end lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes. Not too bad for about $100 worth of food but I did use up almost half a tank of gas. If you're planning to go to one of these, know that it began at 10am and one of the volunteers told me there was a packed parking lot at 5:30 am. One mote thing: It was cold and food is heavy and yet there were volunteers with smiles on their faces shivering in the snow in the parking lot, lifting heavy boxes and spreading cheer. God bless those people. Covelli Centre had Christmas music blasting from outside concert speakers which was nice and they all did their very best to make things festive and happy as they worked their butts off. Thank you to them!!! This was definitely something...

City of Youngstown and JAC... Really just half a star and that's for getting a good performer. Time for a parking deck on all of that property by the Covelli Centre. Getting to the parking areas is an absolute nightmare. Should we really be downtown 2 hours before an event? You don't even have to do that in a big city. Perhaps the $20 parking fee should be allocated to hiring people who know how to control traffic and park cars. This caused us to be 45 minutes late after the show started. Then the house lights were down so it was difficult to find the proper row and seats and you had no ushers. We had people in our seats who were even in the wrong section. Why were there no ushers? Why were the bathroom s such a mess? Isn't that what the crazy venue ticket fee is all about? Having personnel to operate the venue during an event? There was an overkill of security at the doors but zero ushers. Make sure all your policies are correctly posted for an event. There was no mention of umbrellas being banned for 11/14/24 event. But those who brought them had to toss them on a patch of grass outside the corner of the building according to a dude who said "you can get it later. If it's still here, we're not responsible" 🙄 JAC& City of Youngstown - You've come a long way. Event experiences should keep improving not becoming a deterrent to patronizing the Covelli Centre and downtown area. Get better parking and parking staff or a parking deck. Get ushers. Or maybe stop charging ticket fees for venue operations during an event. Ticket holders are paying the fee and they should see...