The NATO Parliamentary Assembly will be visiting the Gem City for the first time in May
In 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords, which were negotiated at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, ended the Bosnian War.
Thirty years later, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be visiting Dayton for its spring session from May 22 to 26, highlighting this important anniversary and honoring the history that has a home in Dayton.
U.S. Representative Mike Turner, who was born and raised in Dayton, served as the Dayton mayor from 1994 to 2002 and served as the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2014 to 2016, led the charge in getting NATO to visit the Gem City.
Around three years ago, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly began discussions on what to do to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords. “They asked their board, which I’m a member of, what should they do to commemorate the anniversary,” Turner says. “I said, ‘Well, you darn well better be coming to Dayton.’”
Turner shares that the NATO Assembly does not frequently visit cities the size of Dayton, but he knows they will get to see a world-class city with world-impacting aviation history.
“They know the Dayton Peace Accords, they speak of it often when they speak of the Balkan region, but they don’t know of Dayton, the city itself,” Turner says. “They’ll be able to experience it now as we do both a retrospective of that time and a prospective of how it is, with this transatlantic relationship, that we try to keep peace.”
Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein has been working alongside Congressman Turner to prepare the city for this historic visit. Dickstein shares that it’s been a year since the congressman reached out to her office officially about the visit, and they have been working since then to prepare.
“Congressman Turner’s staff have done a great job of setting up,” Dickstein says. “Everybody’s off working on their specific area of focus or expertise to make sure that, at the end of the day, it all comes together in an amazing experience for the assembly and for the community and the state.”
Though much of the NATO Assembly is secured and programmed for the event itself, Dickstein says that the steering committee, which has been meeting for around six months, has been “very intentional” about improvements that would be permanent or available to the community after NATO.
“This was an opportunity for us to certainly show off Dayton, but it is really an opportunity to drive investments that our community will enjoy for years to come…so it looks really nice for people living, working, playing and visiting downtown,” Dickstein says.
In addition to some facade improvements, Dickstein shares that there will be an arts and culture piece to the festivities. “There’s a number of national, state and local exhibits that are going to go into some of the storefronts along Main Street downtown,” she shares.
As part of the assembly programming, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing during the NATO Assembly at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Congressman Turner helped organize this concert by making a direct request to the orchestra director almost three years ago in Bosnia.
In addition to playing during the session, the orchestra will also be performing for the public at the Schuster Center on May 29.
Dayton Philharmonic Music Director Neal Gittleman will be conducting the NATO concert, and Marin Alsop will be conducting the combined orchestras at the Schuster Center. Alsop is the chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and is the first and only conductor to ever receive a MacArthur Fellowship, also called the “Genius Grant.”
Gabriel van Aalst, president and CEO of Dayton Live, shares his excitement for the event. “It’s going to be a wonderful showcase for the city and to the world in a way,” he says. “It’s really special, and it’s a real honor, so we’re excited about that.”
Dayton is expecting about 1,000 assembly members and media representatives to visit the region for the NATO Assembly, including officials from the Balkan region, parliamentarians from various NATO countries and Mark Rutte the NATO secretary general.
“Since the international focus is going to be on Dayton, our community has been very proud,” Turner says. “The fact that we have an opportunity to showcase really that we are a world class city. People are also proud because they know we will showcase well.”
Dickstein shares Turner’s sentiment. “Dayton is a big little city,” she says. “It has a big city attitude. It’s always performing out of its weight class, so to speak. It is truly a community where you have access to first tier leadership that you would never find in bigger cities.”
Turner, who has worked closely with NATO and its Parliamentary Assembly since serving as its president over 10 years ago, has a unique opportunity to share. “These people are my friends, and I can’t wait to show them my hometown,” he says.
