Prevue January-February 2018 - 16
Previous: Sunrise yoga in Kiener Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri Right (clockwise from top): Guest room at Aloft Austin Downtown; Rendering of Hyatt Regency Seattle meeting space (photo credit: LMN Architects); Omaha skyline from Heartland of America Park (photo credit: Visit Omaha) C Community-minded events are trending big for 2018 as attendees continue to express their preference for hyperlocal and immersive experiences. Seattle to Savannah, new district destination developments are delivering this expectation. Moving beyond CityArchRiver, "the City Museum is also a very unique downtown attraction like no other in the world," Brinkmann says. "Housed in a former shoe factory, the 'museum' is actually an eclectic and very creative funhouse incorporating all sorts of found objects, and it's always changing." SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI Beneath the steel-clad curve of St. Louis' iconic Gateway Arch monument, built to reflect the city's role in the westward expansion of the US, is a new space that is also expanding the possibilities for meetings and events. As the last phase of the $380 million CityArchRiver project that has transformed and connected the Arch grounds and riverfront, the revised Museum at the Gateway Arch will feature rare local artifacts and six exhibit areas, including a walk in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, who completed their journey just footsteps away along the Mississippi River. Groups of up to 1,500 reception-style will be able to meet here once the museum and visitor center are completed this summer-just in time for Fair St. Louis to the Arch, one of the nation's largest Fourth of July celebrations. An after-hours night at the museum buyout can also be arranged. "The new museum and visitor center will be connected more directly to downtown St. Louis than it ever was in the past," explains Matt Brinkmann, special events and programming manager for the Gateway Arch Park Foundation. "We also have a beautiful new 7-acre outdoor event space at the north end of the grounds that includes a natural amphitheater with the historic Eads Bridge (now bike friendly) as backdrop, as well as easy access to the Laclede's Landing entertainment district." As the tallest man-made monument in the US at 630 ft, the Gateway Arch is the focal point of the 90-acre Jefferson National Expansion Memorial with views of the Mississippi River, Busch Stadium and acres of new tree-lined walking and biking trails available at its peak. Brinkmann advises that you add a "tram ride to the top of the Arch to the top of the to-do list," and the National Park Service can arrange customized programs that explore the rest of the grounds through living history demonstrations and trial reenactments. The redevelopment of the Kiener Plaza, now a hot spot for yoga and other events, has connected the Gateway Mall and Arch grounds to the downtown core. In the middle of all of this sits the Old Courthouse, where one of the most important cases in America's history, Dred Scott v. Sanford, contributed to the end of slavery. The courthouse is also available for events and historians can be booked for keynote sessions. Groups can see the city like an explorer during a sightseeing or dinner cruise aboard replicas of nineteenth-century paddlewheel riverboats, the Becky Thatcher and the Tom Sawyer, or during a guided helicopter tour. OMAHA, NEBRASKA The Old Market District is seeing an influx of new restaurants, shops and galleries along its cobblestone streets. Street musicians and artists are built-in entertainment in this historic area, which is also festooned with pubs, quaint cafes and jazz clubs. Groups can climb aboard Ollie the Trolley the first Friday of every month for a hop-on, hop-off art walk, or hop on barstools for drinks and a spin around the area on the Omaha Patio Ride. It's possible to authentically experience 12 countries-a Hindu Temple, Lithuanian bakery, Greek dinner and dance, and Latino art and history museum included-and culinary tours of the Dundee neighborhood may include ice cream at eCreamery and sips of Dundee Dell's 700-bottle scotch collection. Groups can also experience paddleboarding tours across Standing Bear and Prairie Queen lakes and across Lake Zorinsky during downtime, and the 31-acre Heartland of America Park offers gondola rides, outdoor concerts and one of the nation's largest shooting fountains. Nearby, the Durham Museum at the city's art deco Union Station has a range of permanent exhibits that groups can explore, whether restored train cars, 1940s store fronts or some of the world's rarest coins. Attendees can top all of this off with a phosphate or malt at an authentic soda fountain. At the Josyln Art Museum, groups can glean inspiration from the works of Degas, Monet and Pollack before trying their hands at painting, glassblowing, bead, chainmail and print making workshops at the Hot Shops Art Center, housed in a converted warehouse. "The biggest misconception about Omaha is that it is a rural destination filled with cornfields and cows," says Cathy Keller, VP of sales and services for Visit Omaha. "While we are extremely proud of our agricultural roots, we're also a thriving metropolitan area with more than a million residents, cultural offerings comparable to a city twice its size and a food scene that rivals much larger cities." These are just some of the reasons why Omaha is consistently ranked as a top value city, Keller says. The new 333-room Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capital District is the centerpiece of the new $200 million dining and entertainment mecca, The Capital District, which connects the Old Market to the events district and the Riverfront to the downtown business district. It's also the first full-service hotel to "The new museum and visitor center will be connected more directly to downtown St. Louis than it ever was in the past." 16 | prevuemeetings.com