Jehovah’s Witness convention draws 25,000 people to Bakersfield

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. ( KGET ) — The Jehovah’s Witness Convention is back in Bakersfield this weekend. The free local summer tradition spanning 25 years draws around 25,000 people.

“I’ve been coming here for over 20 years,” said Dexter Valencia. “I met my wife here 16 years ago, and so, for me, it has a special place in my heart.”

Valencia lives in New York but he comes to Bakersfield every year to represent the convention. The 3-day event started Friday and ends Sunday. The convention takes place over five weekends during the summer at Mechanics Bank Arena.

“It’s something I look forward to each year,” said Valencia. “We’re excited about it and it’s a really fun event.”

The 2024 theme is “Declare the Good News!” which is great news for the Marriott hotel because now, every vacancy is filled.

“We have anywhere from 150 to 200 rooms each night that usually is just them staying with us,” said Mayra Chavez.

Chavez has been working at the Marriott since 2006. She said they have to plan for the convention a year in advance to handle the surge of patrons.

“There’s a lot of people,” said Chavez. “So, we can’t house them all, we can’t feed them all. So, downtown restaurants, everyone is getting a little big piece of business.”

An estimated two million attendees have frequented the convention over the years featuring Bible talks, interviews and video presentations.

Sean and Naomi Dalide made the drive from Monterey to Declare the Good News, but they stay to make fast friends in the process.

“It took a lot of work, a lot of effort to come, but it’s worth the sacrifice,” said Sean Dalide.

Naomi Dalide said, “We’re already feeling so much closer together.”

The Jehova’s Witness convention has another 3-day event July 26th through July 28th. Last year, 13 million people attended 6,000 conventions worldwide. A few of them break down what it means to be a Jehova’s witness.

“We enjoy going door to door,” said Valencia.

“We do our very best to live by bible principles,” said Dalide.

“That’s a commission that we received in the Bible of Jesus Christ that he sent his disciples two by two,” said Valencia.

“We love people. We love Jesus. We try to imitate him best we can and we just wanna bring them good news. So, that’s what we’re about,” said Naomi Dalide.

For more information on Jehovah’s Witnesses, click here .

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