Hosting an event in Merced
What it takes to run an event in Merced, California: 6 mapped venues, their stated capacities, and the travel around them. Fresno Yosemite International Airport is 90 km (56 mi) out.
Where Merced holds a crowd
Merced has a recorded population of 96,073 (2024), inside the Merced, CA area of about 297,000 people.
What is on the books here: 1 dedicated conference and function space, 1 theatre or concert hall and 4 independent event spaces.
By type that is 4 event spaces, 1 theatre and 1 conference centre.
Conference and function space (1)
| Venue | Type | Stated capacity | From the centre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conference Center | conference centre | not published | 8.3 km (5.2 mi) |
Theatres and concert halls (1)
| Venue | Type | Stated capacity | From the centre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merced Theater | theatre | not published | 0.3 km (0.2 mi) |
Independent event spaces (4)
| Venue | Type | Stated capacity | From the centre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merced Theatre | event space | not published | 0.3 km (0.2 mi) |
| The Mainzer | event space | not published | 0.3 km (0.2 mi) |
| Hornitos Masonic Hall No. 98 | event space | not published | 31 km (19 mi) |
| Merced Civic Center | event space | not published | 0.2 km (0.1 mi) |
Every venue mapped in Merced appears above. The ones with enough published detail to be worth reading have their own guide and are linked; the rest are named here, which is honest about what the record holds without giving each of them a page made of three facts.
Flights, time and distance
Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) is 90 km (56 mi) away, far enough that arrival day is genuinely a travel day and a first session before noon will lose people.
Merced keeps Los Angeles time (America/Los_Angeles), which matters most for the remote speakers you are dialling in.
Atwater, Turlock and Madera are close enough to draw from for a day rate, and to fall back on if Merced has nothing free on your dates.
- Nearest major airport
- FAT
- Fresno Yosemite International Airport, 90 km (56 mi)
- Local time
- UTC−7
- America/Los_Angeles, in September
- City population, 2024
- 96,073
- 297,000 across the Merced, CA area
Things that catch organizers out here
No exhibition hall on record
Nothing in the Merced dataset is classified as a convention or exhibition centre, so a trade floor needs either an arena floor, a fairground, or a nearby city. Check the arena listings above before you promise exhibitors a booth plan.
No published capacities
Not one Merced venue publishes a capacity in the open sources behind this page. Every room on the list will quote you a number directly, but you cannot compare them before you call, so build a fortnight of venue calls into the plan.
Arrival is a half-day
90 km (56 mi) from FAT means most attendees lose a morning to travel. Open registration the evening before and put nothing you care about in the first slot.
The city is smaller than the market
96,073 people live in Merced itself, but about 297,000 live in the wider Merced, CA. Your local audience is far bigger than the city line suggests, and so is the commute your day-rate attendees will make.
Pricing this against a real Merced room
Suppose 240 attendees claim their invite and open the app at a Merced event a mid-sized Merced programme, since no Merced venue publishes a capacity in open data. Here is exactly what event67 charges, with the free 50 taken off the top.
- activated attendees
- 240activated attendees
- billable, after the first 50 are free
- 190billable, after the first 50 are free
- for the whole event, at $5 each
- $950for the whole event, at $5 each
You are billed for people, not for the venue, so the room you choose in Merced does not change this figure. Nothing is charged for an attendee who registers and never opens the app.
Matching the room to the format
No capacity is published for any Merced venue, so match the format to the room on your site visit rather than to a number on a listing.
- award ceremonies
1 fixed-seat house gives you a stage, lighting and sightlines without building any of it.
- training days and workshops
1 purpose-built function space is the easiest kind of room to run a workshop in — the power and the load-in already assume it.
- leadership retreats
Smaller rooms suit a retreat better than a hall does, and Merced has them.
Where this data comes from
- GeoNames, CC BY 4.0
- US Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 estimates
- Wikidata, CC0
- Geographic data © GeoNames, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Venue data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.
- US population figures are US Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates.
- Retrieved 3 September 2026. event67 has no commercial relationship with any venue listed.
Last updated
What it costs
- Free up to 50
- activated attendees, on one live event
- $5
- per activated attendee beyond 50
- $4,750
- the most one event can ever cost, whatever happens past 1,000
Activated means the person claimed their invite and opened the app. Not when you import them, not when the invite is delivered, and not if they register and stay home.
Questions people actually ask
Price a Merced event at 240 attendees — what is the total?
240 activated attendees means 190 billable after the free 50, so $950 for the event. The price is $5 per activated attendee beyond the first 50, and the total for one event stops at $4,750 however many more attend. Activated means the person claimed their invite and opened the app. Not when you import them, not when the invite is delivered, and not if they register and stay home.
How big an event can Merced hold?
No Merced venue publishes a capacity in the open sources behind this page, so there is no honest number to quote. 6 venues are mapped here and each will quote a capacity directly. Ask for the seated, theatre and reception figures separately — they differ by a factor of two or more in the same room.
Can you run a trade show in Merced?
Nothing in the Merced dataset is classified as a convention or exhibition centre. A trade floor here means an arena floor, a fairground or a venue in a nearby city such as Atwater. For a conference without an exhibition, the 6 venues on this page are the field.
Which airport do attendees fly into for Merced?
Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), about 90 km (56 mi) from the city. It is the highest-traffic airport within reach in this dataset. Local time is America/Los_Angeles; publish every session in that zone and let attendees' phones convert it.
Is there a free tier for a small Merced event?
One live event with up to 50 activated attendees costs nothing. Beyond that it is $5 per activated attendee beyond the first 50, and the total for one event stops at $4,750 however many more attend. Activated means the person claimed their invite and opened the app. Not when you import them, not when the invite is delivered, and not if they register and stay home.
Keep reading
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- Holding an event in Manteca
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Up a level
What kind of event is it
Running something in Merced?
Set the schedule, invite the room and watch who actually turns up. Free for your first 50 activated attendees, on one live event.