York Expo Center to host state bar exam

The York Expo Center, a venue typically reserved for residents and tourists to let loose at a concert or fair, will soon serve as the site for 1,150 aspiring attorneys in a stressful situation.

The state bar exam will be administered within Utz Arena on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a news release from the York County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which predicts an estimated $1.2 million in total economic benefits.

The exam was originally slated to be in Philadelphia, according to visitors bureau spokesman Andrew Staub, but officials elected to look elsewhere when the city was announced as the host of the Democratic National Convention.

Gicine Brignola, executive director of the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners, reached out to the bureau, remembering the center from when her niece's volleyball team played in a tournament there, according to the release.

Staub described this as an example of the "halo effect" county tourism officials work toward by creating an atmosphere that brings visitors back.

The center mostly hosts fairs, concerts and sporting events, but Staub said it also has hosted meetings.