t’s standard practice for travel writers to tout an area’s diversity—how it has “something for everyone.” The Illinois Bureau of Tourism recently asked Illinois residents and visitors to choose the “Seven Wonders of Illinois” in a poll, and it’s an understatement to say the winners vary, which makes it easy to write about the state’s diverse appeal.
The “Seven Wonders” include Wrigley Field in Chicago; the architecturally stunning Baha’i Temple in Wilmette along Chicago’s North Shore; the gorgeous canyons and sparkling waterfalls of Starved Rock State Park in Utica; the garden- and sculpture-packed Allerton Park and Retreat Center in Monticello; the Black Hawk State Historic Site’s tribute to Native Americans in Rock Island; Rend Lake and the Southern Illinois Art & Artisans Center in Whittington; and the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway near Grafton.
With such a varied list, it’s safe to say Illinois is one of the most scenic and culturally rich meetings destinations in the Midwest.
Chicagoland
The multifaceted appeal of Illinois’ star metropolis was reinforced in April, when the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) selected it as the U.S. applicant city for the 2016 Olympics. The “Windy City” will be making an extra effort to impress visitors (particularly international ones) between now and 2009, when the International Olympic Committee announces the final winner. (Tokyo and Madrid are also in the running.)
The reasons the USOC selected Chicago are pretty obvious. The city presents everything the visitor (or the meeting planner) could want: numerous hotels and the nation’s largest convention center at McCormick Place; high walkability, superb mass transit and plentiful cabs; hundreds of restaurants; a thriving theater and music scene, from symphony to blues, jazz and rap; shopping everywhere, from high-end department stores to tiny boutiques; and cultural attractions ranging from historic Navy Pier’s entertaining offerings to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum.
The bottom line on Chicago: Rest assured that a city in the running to host the world can pull off everything from modest gatherings to mega conventions with style and ease.
The central business district alone has 30,000 hotel rooms, and dozens of properties are well equipped with meeting facilities. Among the many options are the Fairmont Chicago, the Palmer House Hilton, the Millennium Knickerbocker, the Four Seasons Chicago, and the landmark Allerton Hotel Chicago, one of the city’s first high-rises. The property was recently purchased by Oxford Lodging Advisory and Investment Group and plans to finish a renovation later this year.
Suburban cities such as Evanston, Wilmette, Skokie, Glencoe, Glenview, and Northbrook march into the distance north of Chicago. These communities hug Lake Michigan and provide plenty for visitors to do, from strolling Evanston (home to Northwestern University) to visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe to taking in large-scale contemporary works at the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park. Visitors can also drive along scenic Sheridan Road and Lake Michigan to unwind.
The region’s many meetings-ready hotel options include Evanston’s Hotel Orrington and Skokie’s Renaissance Chicago North Shore and newly renovated Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center Chicago North Shore.
Meanwhile, the Greater Woodfield CVB has changed its name to the Woodfield Chicago Northwest CVB, and president Fran Bolson says her cities, which include Arlington Heights, Elk Grove, Schaumburg and several others, feature attractions such as the Arlington Park horse racing track; Morton Arboretum, a botanical garden that she describes as a “tree museum”; and plenty of golf courses to satisfy visiting duffers.
Significantly boosting the region’s ability to handle larger groups was the opening in July 2006 of the 500-room Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, which has 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and 48,000 square feet of meeting space.
Other prominent meeting venues in the area include the $62 million, 11,000-seat Sears Centre Arena, which debuted in October 2006 in Hoffman Estates and hosts hockey, lacrosse, arena football, and music acts.
In addition, the Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights now offers a 65,000-square-foot water resort called Coco Key, which has a restaurant, bar, private cabanas, and several party rooms.
In the area surrounding O’Hare International Airport, planners can take advantage of large facilities such as the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center, offering 840,000 square feet of exhibition space next door to the 92,000-square-foot Rosemont Conference Center, as well as plenty of airport-area hotels with meeting facilities, including the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, the Westin O’Hare and the Chicago Marriott O’Hare.
Chicago’s western suburbs are also well suited to a variety of groups, with numerous communities offering venues ranging from hotels and resorts to conference centers and exposition centers. Among the many options are the IACC-certified Eaglewood Conference Resort and Spa in Itasca; Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale; and Pheasant Run Resort and Spa and the Q Center in St. Charles. Upcoming properties include the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, which will debut in August with 500 guest units and 39,000 square feet of meeting space.
South of downtown, the Chicago Southland CVB represents 61 suburbs that run from urban lakeside to farmland, according to Mary Patchin, the bureau’s director of sales.
“We offer everything from urban to suburban to rural,” Patchin says, mentioning Tinley Park, Oak Lawn, Alsip, Matteson, and Orland Hills.
The Chicago Southland region is generally denser near Midway Airport, but becomes more suburban and then rural heading west and south.
The region is home to Toyota Park, where Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire play, as well as Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center in Olympia Fields, a 37-acre facility that teaches life skills using adrenaline-pumping activities such as ropes courses and climbing walls.
Additionally, Tinley Park offers the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, which can accommodate 30,000 people.
In Matteson, the Holiday Inn completed a $4 million renovation of its meeting rooms and guest rooms in late 2006, and a Holiday Inn Express in Lansing and a Country Inn and Suites in Tinley Park both recently opened.
Other meetings-friendly hotels in this area include the Baymont Inn and Suites in Calumet City, the Doubletree Hotel Chicago/Alsip in Alsip, the Hilton Oak Lawn in Oak Lawn, and the Wingate Inn in Tinley Park.
Northern Illinois
Galena’s initial claim to fame was, well, galena, a lead ore so abundant here that in 1845, Galena and surrounding Jo Daviess County produced 80 percent of all American lead. The area is now experiencing a second boom: tourism, with the resort, bed-and-breakfast, antique, and wine-producing businesses bringing roughly 1 million visitors a year to northwest Illinois.
The Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa and Chestnut Mountain Ski Resort are popular draws, and the former has 15,000 square feet of function space and 63 holes of golf.
Rockford remains northern Illinois’ premiere manufacturing center, producing machine tools, aerospace components, automobiles, and fasteners. The city is also a regional medical and retail center, and its plentiful sports facilities inspired Sports Illustrated to name Rockford “Sportstown USA” for Illinois in 2004.
The Rock River divides the city into east and west, and a host of cultural facilities, including the Burpee Museum of Natural History, Memorial Hall War Memorial and Museum, and Rockford Art Museum, have rentable meeting space.
The city offers 3,000 guest rooms, with the largest hotel properties being the Best Western Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center, Cliffbreakers Comfort Suites and Conference Center, Holiday Inn of Rockford, and Radisson Hotel Rockford.
Farther south, the “Quad Cities” face each other and the Mississippi River—Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Ill.
Connected by three bridges and a shared agricultural and industrial focus, the Quad Cities area is served by Quad City International Airport, where a Hampton Inn and Suites opened in spring 2007. Most meetings-capable hotels here are on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, while the larger conference facilities are in Illinois.
One of the most attractive sites in the region is the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, part the John Deere Commons office, shopping and entertainment complex along the Mississippi. It features a 163-room Radisson hotel and the 12,000-seat MARK Arena. Rivaling it for architectural beauty is the Quad City Botanical Center in Rock Island, whose perennial gardens surround a 6,400-square-foot Tropical Sun Garden conservatory that’s densely green, even in winter.
Central Illinois
Springfield takes three things seriously: its role as the state capital, the longtime residence of Abraham Lincoln and food. Sometimes these elements combine in interesting ways, such as when the Illinois Legislature declared Springfield to be the “Chili Capital of the Civilized World.”
Springfield takes eating that seriously, and plenty of fine dining supplements the myriad places that compete to serve the best chili or horseshoe sandwich (a local classic consisting of a hamburger covered with French fries and cheese sauce).
Lincoln-related venues include the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Lincoln Tomb Historic Site and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Many of the museum’s exhibit spaces are available for meetings, including the Lincoln Atrium, the Lincoln Reception Room, with its three-story glass rotunda, and the Governor’s Conference Room.
Springfield’s many hotels include the Crowne Plaza, Hilton Springfield and Northfield Inn and Suites.
The Prairie Capital Convention Center is the city’s largest dedicated group facility and is connected to the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel.
In addition, the 366-room Hilton Springfield is undergoing a $4 million renovation of its public spaces and upgrading guest room furniture and bathrooms. Completion is expected by the end of 2007, with the restaurant to follow in February 2008.
Gina Gemberling, director of sales at the Springfield CVB, says Springfield has a lot of association business but also works hard at broadening its meetings base.
“We go after association, religious and fraternal groups but we also have an auto and agriculture section,” Gemberling says. “With the state fairgrounds here, we’re able to bring in big events, like hot rod magazine shows and things of that nature. We especially do religious youth conventions because of our location and affordability.”
The old question, “Will it play in Peoria?” has historical ties to the city of Peoria, long thought to be the microcosm of mainstream America. Today, the thriving city anchors an urban area of nearly 400,000 people.
Peoria is the home of Caterpillar Inc., which is building the World Visitors Center to highlight its achievements in machinery and construction. Scheduled to open in 2008, the center will feature interactive exhibits, including a Caterpillar 797B mining truck simulator that will let visitors “drive” one of these massive, 300-ton industrial beasts.
Meanwhile, Peoria has finished expanding the Peoria Civic Center by 45,000 square feet, bringing it up to 110,000 square feet overall, including a new 27,000-square-foot ballroom, while the East Peoria Convention Center at the Oaks is another option for large gatherings.
The Glen Oak Zoo is also expanding by one-third as part of a $32.1 million project.
A 230-room Embassy Suites with 25,000 square feet of meeting space will open in East Peoria in November, and several limited-service properties will come on-line by year’s end.
Jeff Creek, director of sales for the Peoria Area CVB, credits all this activity to city infrastructure improvements and Caterpillar’s rising fortunes.
“They just re-did a lot of the infrastructure—the roads going through Peoria—and Caterpillar is doing very well and expanding their workforce, and a lot of smaller companies are building up because of that,” Creek says.
Other top meetings hotels include the Radisson Hotel, Holiday Inn City Centre, Hotel Pere Marquette, and Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center.
The communities of Bloomington and Normal are sometimes called the “Twin Cities.” Bloomington hosts the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and Illinois Wesleyan University, while Normal is home to Illinois State University.
Major group facilities include the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and the new U.S. Cellular Coliseum, and the Doubletree Hotel Bloomington is one of the area’s meetings-friendly properties.
Several new hotels are opening in the destination, including the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, which is under construction and will feature 45,000 square feet of function space.
The cities of Champaign and Urbana constitute one big college town thanks to their flagship University of Illinois campus, but there’s more happening than just education and Big Ten sports.
Champaign-Urbana also hosts the operations of Motorola, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and defense contractor Science Applications International Corporation. The cities’ downtowns feature several theaters, a planetarium, the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum, and the Spurlock Museum, which focuses on human culture and history.
Meetings-capable venues include the Eastland Suites Hotel and Conference Center, Historic Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center and the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center.
Effingham is strategically located at the intersection of interstates 57 and 70, and it features the Cross at the Crossroads, an extraordinarily large steel crucifix visible from both highways.
Effingham offers groups the 20,000-square-foot Thelma Keller Convention Center and several hotels, including the Comfort Inn Effingham, the Hilton Garden Inn Effingham and the Best Western Raintree Inn.
Roughly 40 percent of U.S. ethanol comes from Illinois corn, partly thanks to Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland. Appropriately enough for the Soybean Capital of the World, Decatur will host this year’s Farm Progress Show, the largest farm show in the country.
The 370-room Decatur Conference Center and Hotel is available for meetings, while the Decatur Civic Center’s theater accommodates 500. Nearby Forsyth offers dining and entertainment opportunities, plus a 15-screen movie theater.
Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois’ wealth originated in its huge deposits of coal—thus the name of the town of Carbondale. But southern Illinois is also, somewhat mysteriously, called “Little Egypt.” This is partly because some of its towns have Mediterranean names like Cairo, Karnak and Thebes.
But regardless of the name’s origin, southern Illinois is geographically, climatically and culturally different from the rest of Illinois—hillier, more heavily forested and more Southern (flanked as it is by Kentucky and Missouri).
Carbondale is home to Southern Illinois University and has over a dozen public parks, 17 country clubs, four public golf courses, and 17 public tennis courts. Its 750 hotel rooms are spread over properties including the Ramada Carbondale, the Hampton Inn Carbondale and the Carbondale Holiday Inn and Conference Center.
Nearby Marion is home to the new Rent One Park, where the Frontier League’s Southern Illinois Miners began playing baseball in May; the multipurpose Herrin Civic Center; and the manmade Lake of Egypt.
For More Info
Aurora CVB 630.897.5581
www.enjoyaurora.com
Bloomington–Normal Area CVB 309.665.0033
www.visitbn.org
Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau 618.529.4451
www.cctb.org
Champaign County CVB 217.351.4133
www.visitchampaigncounty.org
Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau 312.567.8500
www.choosechicago.com
Chicago Southland CVB 708.895.8200
www.cscvb.com
Chicago’s Northshore CVB 847.763.0011
www.cnscvb.com
Decatur Area CVB 217.423.7000
www.decaturcvb.com
DuPage CVB 217.342.5310
www.dupagecvb.com
Effingham CVB 313.202.1800
www.visiteffinghamil.com
Elgin Area CVB 847.695.7540
www.enjoyelgin.com
Galena/Jo Daviess County CVB 815.777.3557
www.galena.org
Heritage Corridor CVB (Joliet) 815.727.2323
www.heritagecorridorcvb.com
Kankakee County CVB 815.935.7390
www.visitkankakeecounty.com
Lake County Illinois CVB 847.662.2700
www.lakecounty.org
Lisle CVB 630.769.1000
www.lislecvb.com
Oak Park Area CVB 708.524.7800
www.visitoakpark.com
Prospect Heights CVB 847.577.3666
www.chicagonorthsuburbs.com
Peoria Area CVB 309.676.0303
www.peoria.org
Quad Cities CVB 563.322.3911
www.visitquadcities.com
Rockford Area CVB 815.963.8111
www.gorockford.com
Rosemont Convention Bureau Development Office 847.823.2100
www.rosemont.com
Southern Illinois Tourism 618.998.9397
www.adventureillinois.com
Springfield CVB 217.789.2360
www.visit-springfieldillinois.com
St. Charles CVB 630.377.6161
www.visitstcharles.com
Williamson County Tourism Bureau 618.997.3690
www.wctb.org
Woodfield Chicago Northwest CVB 847.490.1010
www.chicagonorthwest.com
