Minnesota is a land of breathtaking natural beauty, from its myriad lakes and woods in the north to the gentle southern prairies and the Mississippi River Valley.
The state is also home to a number of one-of-a-kind cultural icons, from the Mall of America near Bloomington and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, to the booming arts and theater scene in the Twin Cities area.
Minnesota and its main metros consistently make the “best of” lists in nearly every nationwide category, and the state’s enduring reputation of friendliness, a can-do attitude and yes, even spunk, is memorialized in Minneapolis with a bronze statue of the ultimate pop culture icon, Mary Tyler Moore.
With its magnetic personality and myriad settings, Minnesota is becoming a Midwestern meetings mecca.
Twin Cities Metro Area
Encompassing Minneapolis, Saint Paul and a number of surrounding communities, the Twin Cities area is enjoying an artistic and economic boom.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve experienced an arts explosion,” says Kevin Lewis, vice president of convention sales at Meet Minneapolis, the Official Convention and Visitors Association. “The recent opening of the Guthrie Theater and the Walker Arts Center has been followed by a series of boutique and smaller hotels opening as well.”
The arts scene in Minneapolis has become a key draw for visitors, with dozens of theaters, museums and music venues, plus the buzz-worthy Fringe Festival, a city-wide celebration of performing arts. Highlights for attendees include the Hennepin Theatre District, a collection of three historic theaters that brings top-notch Broadway shows and popular performers to town; the Guthrie Theater, home of thought-provoking plays and great drama; and the Walker Arts Center, whose excellent collection of art is topped only by the fact that group events held there are exclusively catered by renowned chef Wolfgang Puck.
Hotel inventory is also growing, with a total of 1,100 new rooms coming on-line by fall 2008. The Westin Minneapolis was unveiled in April with 7,800 square feet of meeting space, and other newcomers include a 210-room Hilton Garden Inn; the 225-room Minneapolis Hotel, A Doubletree; and a 155-room aloft Hotel, all opening by summer of next year. Additionally, the Ivy Tower and Foshay Tower are under renovation, the former becoming a Starwood Luxury property, and the latter transforming into a W hotel. Both properties are also slated to open by summer 2008.
Downtown will also be boosted by a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins baseball team, scheduled to debut by 2010.
Primary meeting facilities include the Minneapolis Convention Center, with 480,000 square feet of space, as well as hotels such as the Hilton Minneapolis, with 73,000 square feet of function space.
Just minutes from downtown in nearby Plymouth, the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center Minneapolis offers 36,000 square feet of meeting space in 35 meeting rooms.
For a quiet setting, groups can head just south of Minneapolis to Dolce International’s Oak Ridge Hotel and Conference Center, a 130-acre property featuring 145 rooms and 22,000 square feet of IACC-certified function space.
In the aftermath of the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis Aug. 1, the city wants to reassure planners that business will go on. While city and state authorities continue the recovery effort, failure analysis and reconstruction, traffic will still flow smoothly, according to Lewis.
“Alternate routes have already been implemented,” Lewis says. “This should not have any direct impact for convention attendees, since the bridge was just outside the northeast edge of downtown, outside the core.”
The city has six other bridges that cross the Mississippi River, and Highway 280 has been converted into a freeway, providing the main detour for entering downtown from the north, according to information from Meet Minneapolis.
Reconstruction of the collapsed bridge is slated for completion in 2008.
As the capital city, Saint Paul is used for large conventions of every type, but the largest, most publicized one will be the Republican National Convention in 2008. The city will host 45,000 visitors for the event.
“This convention will give us an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate that we are capable of successfully hosting any meeting, of any size, and it will bring national and international attention to Saint Paul,” says Karen Madlock, vice president of sales and marketing for the Saint Paul RiverCentre Convention and Visitors Authority.
The city’s major convention venue is the Saint Paul RiverCentre, which is connected to the Xcel Energy Center, site of next year’s Republican National Convention.
Meetings-ready hotels include the Crowne Plaza Saint Paul Riverfront, which has 50,000 square feet of meeting space and recently completed a $4.5 million renovation; the newly renovated Hilton Garden Inn St. Paul City Center (formerly The City Center Hotel Saint Paul); and the historic Saint Paul Hotel.
St. Paul’s historic and river-related attractions are popular with attendees, including tours of Summit Avenue, the longest boulevard of Victorian homes in the nation; paddle wheel boat rides and dinner cruises; and tours showcasing Saint Paul’s gangster history and other irresistible lore.
Eleven communities make up the Minneapolis North region, giving the area excellent diversity when it comes to attractions and meeting venues.
The Earle Brown Heritage Center is a combination of both; the restored historic buildings of the former Brooklyn Farm feature state-of-the-art meeting facilities and 36,000 square feet of event space. An adjacent Embassy Suites hotel is slated to open in 2008.
Another new hotel in the region will be the Courtyard Maple Grove/Arbor Lakes, scheduled to open early next year.
Other options for groups include the Northland Inn and Executive Conference Center; the Mermaid Entertainment and Event Center; the AmericInn Hotel and Suites; the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis North; and the Holiday Inn Saint Paul–North.
If there is a saint for shopping, she lives in Bloomington. The city is home to the Mall of America, which boasts 520 stores, a theme park, the state’s largest aquarium, and a host of other attractions, in addition to the Mall of America Executive Meeting and Event Center. Plans are under way for a 5.6 million-square-foot expansion of the mall.
If visitors can tear themselves away from the mall, there are also casinos, golf and even picturesque apple orchards to explore in the area.
The area’s meetings-capable properties include the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and the Minneapolis Airport Marriott. For larger gatherings, the city partners with Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Three new hotels are planned for the Bloomington area: the Hilton Minneapolis South/Bloomington, set to debut in February with 256 guest rooms, four meeting rooms, and a 5,000-square-foot ballroom, and a 150-room Hampton Inn and a 113-room Cambria Suites, both of which will open later this year.
North Central/Western Minnesota
Travel to north and western Minnesota, and the great outdoors truly opens up to reveal the state’s natural beauty. From the central location of St. Cloud, Alexandria and Brainerd Lakes on up to Grand Rapids, Bemidji and Lake of the Woods, the theme is relaxation and recreation.
Two hours north of the Twin Cities metro is the Brainerd Lakes area; depending on the season, attendees can enjoy beachfront barbecues or ice fishing and snowmobiling. Add a collection of the country’s best golf courses, and the area becomes a natural choice for meetings.
Group-friendly facilities in the area include the Grand View Lodge, Madden’s on Gull Lake, Cragun’s Resort and Hotel on Gull Lake, Breezy Point Resort, Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge, and the Lodge at Brainerd Lakes.
South of the Brainerd area are the towns of St. Cloud and Alexandria. Known for the lovely Munsinger Gardens and historic churches, the area also offers lots of outdoor activities, from golf and horseback riding to skiing.
Options for groups include the St. Cloud Civic Center, with 41,500 square feet of event space; the Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center in Alexandria and the Thumper Pond Resort in Ottertail, located north of Alexandria.
For more outdoor fun, the towns of Grand Rapids and Bemidji, located north of Brainerd, offer the playground of the Chippewa National Forest. In Bemidji, meeting facilities include the Northern Inn Hotel and Suites and Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge, and in Grand Rapids, options include Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge and the Windigo Lodge, Golf and Conference Center. In 2008, the upscale, 84-room Timberlake Lodge is slated to debut in Grand Rapids with meeting space for up to 600 people.
Northeastern Minnesota
On the shore of Lake Superior, Duluth has carved out a unique niche for itself in the meetings market, drawing environmental, forestry and other eco-friendly groups.
“The associations market is our bread and butter,” says Anna Tanski, director of sales for the Duluth CVB. “Our convention center is right on Lake Superior and has received awards for its green practices and extensive recycling programs.”
The Duluth Entertainment Convention Center offers 250,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and will also have an arena added to it, pending approval from the state legislature this fall. The proposed arena would add 25,000 square feet of exhibit space, seat 10,000 people and open in 2009.
Just outside the convention center, attendees can explore the Great Lakes Aquarium, the only freshwater aquarium in North America; take a harbor cruise or a ride on the North Shore Scenic Railroad; visit the Great Lakes Floating Maritime Museum; or discover the Canal Park entertainment district, with shops, restaurants and clubs.
Duluth’s proximity to Canada makes it a popular regional choice, according to Tanski, and since the city is set into a hillside, visitors can actually enjoy skiing without leaving the city limits.
Duluth receives 3.5 million visitors each year and has 4,600 rooms city-wide, including meetings-ready options such as the Sheraton Duluth, the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, the Radisson Hotel Duluth Harborview, and the Canal Park Lodge.
In nearby Carlton, the Black Bear Casino Resort will open a new event center in fall 2008, and it is also building a new tower that will boost its room count to more than 400.
Ely, surrounded on three sides by the Superior National Forest just north of Duluth, offers a relaxing, small-town atmosphere where attendees can rough it with wilderness activities or enjoy the easygoing resort life. Facilities include the Grand Ely Lodge Resort and Conference Center.
Southern Minnesota
Home to both computer giant IBM and the renowned Mayo Clinic, Rochester hosts a lot of meetings and often finds a way to utilize the available resources.
“We find that the clinic is willing to open its doors to groups,” says Brad Jones, executive director for the Rochester CVB, citing a national rocketry group that received a talk from a Mayo Clinic physician who works with NASA. “There’s always a tie-in. We just have to find it.”
In addition to medical and high-tech meetings, the city’s SMERF business has also grown, especially in the military reunion market, which comes to the area on the weekends to see both the outstanding Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial and, as a lighter distraction, the nearby SPAM Museum.
Rochester will see $90 million in new construction this year, according to Jones. One project set to open next spring is a downtown pedestrian-only plaza, located between the Marriott and Kahler Grand hotels. Future development plans also include doubling the size of the Mayo Civic Center to approximately 180,000 square feet of space. The expansion is slated to begin in 2010 and be completed by 2012.
In the Greater Mankato area west of Rochester, groups can conduct business and then take advantage of the natural surroundings nearby for outdoor recreational pursuits. Mankato’s Midwest Wireless Civic Center features 40,000 square feet of event space, the historic Kato Ballroom offers 16,000 square feet of space, and the Country Inn & Suites has a 4,500 square foot conference center.
For More Info
Bemidji Visitors and Convention Bureau 218.759.0164
www.visitbemidji.com
Bloomington CVB 952.858.8500
www.bloomingtonmn.org
Charleston Area CVB 843.853.8000
www.charlestoncvb.com
Brainerd Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce 218.829.2838
www.explorebrainerdlakes.com
Eagan CVB 843.853.8000
www.eaganmn.com
Grand Rapids Area CVB 218.326.9607
www.visitgrandrapids.com
Greater Mankato CVB 507.345.4519
www.greatermankato.com
Lake of the Woods Area COC 218.634.1174
www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com
Meet Minneapolis 612.767.8000
www.meetminneapolis.com
Rochester CVB 507.288.4331
www.rochestercvb.org
Saint Paul RiverCentre Convention & Visitors Authority 843.853.8000
www.charlestoncvb.com
St. Cloud Area CVB 320.251.4170
www.granitecountry.com
Visit Duluth 218.722.4011
www.visitduluth.com
Visit Minneapolis North 763.566.7722
www.justaskmn.com
