Defined by the Appalachian Mountains, the western half of the Keystone State presents a distinct geographical region, abutting the Midwest, the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic and packed across its rural valleys with recreational diversions and historic towns.
Long before it became an industrial dynamo, the region stood squarely at the center of the world’s stage. In 1758—250 years ago—a British and Colonial army under Gen. John Forbes marched across the frontier wilderness during the French and Indian War and seized a point of riverfront that became Pittsburgh.
The 6,000-man army included a young Col. George Washington, who four years before had led a militia that fired the first shots in a conflict that spread to Europe.
Pittsburgh, the region’s largest city, is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, showcasing a dramatic rejuvenation since the smokestack era that includes a 5-year-old “green” convention center.
Captured from the French in 1760, Erie, the state’s third-largest city, capped its waterfront revitalization with the unveiling of a convention facility a year ago.
Pittsburgh
A reinvented Pittsburgh is basking in a new title, “America’s Most Livable City,” awarded by Places Rated Almanac for 2007. Then Frommer’s named it one of the world’s top 13 destinations to visit in 2008; “Steel City USA has swapped out its rusting blast furnaces for a modern cityscape with a thriving local and international arts scene,” it declared.
In October and November, yearlong 250th anniversary events will culminate with the illumination of buildings in and around downtown in a festival of lights.
Steel and manufacturing barons left the city with an impressive collection of museums and other cultural institutions, and this special anniversary year will leave the 14-county region, promoted by VisitPittsburgh as “Pittsburgh and its Countryside,” with a legacy of new recreational and heritage attractions and trails.
In November 1758, the army, controlling the Ohio River Valley from Fort Duquesne, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio, took over the ruins, abandoned by the retreating French. It was renamed Fort Pitt.
Today, that tip of waterfront in downtown’s central business district is home to the 36-acre Point State Park, which contains the Fort Pitt Museum and a blockhouse dating to 1764. In time for the lighting spectacular, the park is wrapping up a $35 million renovation.
November celebrations coincide with the five-year anniversary of the country’s first official “green” convention facility: the $367 million riverfront David L. Lawrence Convention Center, with 313,400 square feet of exhibit space, two auditoriums, a 31,600-square-foot ballroom and 51 meeting rooms.
“We’re centrally located, easy to get to and have so much concentrated in a small area,” says Craig Davis, VisitPittsburgh’s vice president, sales and marketing. “The bottom line is that the convention center has allowed Pittsburgh a 180-degree shift. It’s been an amazing place to sell.”
Last year was the best ever for VisitPittsburgh’s meeting and convention bookings, with 266,247 room nights garnered for 2008 and beyond. This year, bookings are on pace to achieve a goal of 275,000 room nights, according to Davis.
“A real success has been the increase in meetings and conventions bookings for value seasons—Thanksgiving through March 31 and long holiday weekends,” he says. “They are like gold to us.”
What’s more, since opening, the convention center’s repeat business has accounted for 245,000 room nights already used or booked.
The “City of Bridges”—there are 446 of them—has water taxis and a free underground rail system. Davis, however, feels the best way to get around a central area of less than two square miles is on foot. Of the 22,000 guest rooms in Allegheny County—basically metro Pittsburgh—more than 3,000 are within walking distance of the convention center.
Attached to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the 618-room Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh has an additional 25,000 square feet of meeting space, and across from it is a 182-room Courtyard by Marriott.
Five other meetings hotels round out the 3,000-plus rooms: the Renaissance Pittsburgh, which begins a multimillion-dollar renovation late this year; an Omni; a Doubletree; a Marriott; and the largest property, the 713-room Hilton Pittsburgh. Across the Monongahela River, the 396-room Sheraton Station Square is in the midst of Station Square’s restaurants, stores and nightlife, and near a fleet of riverboat cruise vessels.
Davis says from any downtown hotel delegates on foot can explore the Strip District, considered Pittsburgh’s food mecca, the Fort Pitt Museum or the Senator John Heinz History Center. They can also ride on one of two funiculars to Mt. Washington and take a walking tour that includes the historic buildings of Grant Street.
Meanwhile, the city is a robust arts destination, Davis says, pointing to downtown Pittsburgh’s 14-block Cultural District and the multitude of off-site venue choices.
Downtown has Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, the Byham Theater, the Heinz History Center and the Mellon Arena, home of the NHL’s Penguins.
On the north shore of the Allegheny River are the Andy Warhol Museum; the Carnegie Science Center; Heinz Field, home of NFL’s Steelers; and PNC Park, home of MLB’s Pirates. East of downtown, there’s the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the Frick Art & Historical Center and the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, which unveiled a $14 million polar bear exhibit in May 2007.
Hotels planned could bring another 1,000-plus rooms to Pittsburgh. Upcoming properties include a 156-room Hilton Garden Inn downtown, where construction could start by year’s end, and a 178-room Hyatt Place, planned for a site near PNC Park.
With 12,000 square feet of meeting space, the 185-room Fairmont Pittsburgh will open next summer. Adjacent to the Cultural District, it will be part of a “green” mixed-use complex called Three PNC Plaza.
However, a long-standing city plan to expand the Westin from 618 to 1,000 rooms remains stalled. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh was designated for one of Pennsylvania’s three massive stand-alone casinos, but financing problems have caused delays for the proposed $700 million Majestic Star Casino.
In the city’s airport area, 18 miles from downtown, there are a number of meetings hotels, including a 223-unit Embassy Suites that is under new ownership and will begin a multimillion-dollar renovation later this year.
Monroeville, 12 miles east of Pittsburgh, is another meetings destination in the region. Monroeville’s Pittsburgh ExpoMart has 106,000 square of rentable space. The attached 322-room Radisson Hotel Pittsburgh is slated to close later this year for renovation.
Communities have been promoting the 250th anniversary via the Forbes Trail (slashed through forest from the former frontier town of Carlisle, 200 miles away, and providing the first road between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh).
Western Pennsylvania boasts the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage Trail. In 2006, it was connected to the 185-mile C&O Canal National Historic Park at Cumberland, Md., forming the East’s longest biking and hiking trail, passing by small towns and linking Washington, D.C., with the Pittsburgh area.
Butler County
Situated 20 minutes north of Pittsburgh where the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 79 meet is Butler County, which Jack Cohen, executive director of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, describes as “one of Western Pennsylvania’s biggest secrets.”
“Meeting planners can find more than accessible and affordable meeting space here,” he says. “In addition to traditional meeting rooms, we can offer a unique variety of other meeting spaces, quaint towns, golf and museums, as well as free parking and low taxes.”
Visitors, he says, typically explore the 15,000-acre Moraine State Park, the county’s top attraction, with fishing, boating, biking, hiking, hunting and lake cruises.
A mix of high tech, expanding industries and farmland, the county has more than a dozen meeting places.
A Cranberry Township office park near the turnpike intersection features the Marriott North, with 14,000 square feet of event space, and the Regional Learning Alliance Conference Center, with 28 meeting rooms.
Butler, the county seat, has a Days Inn with meeting space and Conley Resort, featuring golf, a waterpark and meeting space. Additionally, the Succop Conservancy at Butler Community College has a 150-year-old mansion that can be rented for events.
At Saxonburg, Armstrong Farms Bed & Breakfast can accommodate groups of up to 125 in two restored historical barns, and at Harmony’s Historic Landmark District, the Harmony Museum has a hall seating 130 for banquets and a circa-1825 Mennonite “meeting house.”
Washington County
Known for its 21 historic covered bridges and annual covered bridge festival, Washington County, south of Pittsburgh, is another burgeoning area.
Attractions include the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum; LeMoyne House, the first National Historic Landmark of the Underground Railroad; and the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life. Meadowcroft, a 16,000-year-old archaeological excavation site of human habitation, reopened in May following the construction of a new viewing enclosure.
At the Meadowlands near Washington, the county seat, Meadows Racetrack and Casino will open a $175 million, 350,000-square-foot permanent casino next spring with 4,200 slot machines and new dining venues. Its 1,825-slot temporary casino opened in June 2007.
The owners originally planned a 400-room hotel and a smaller casino but opted for a larger casino and additional parking instead.
The adjacent Holiday Inn Meadowlands has 15,000 square feet of meeting space. Other meetings-ready hotels include Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh/Southpointe in Canonsburg, Ramada Inn and SpringHill Suites in Washington, and Best Western Garden Inn in Bentleyville.
Laurel Highlands and Johnstown
Encompassing three counties 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, the Laurel Highlands is the city’s great outdoors escape, with pursuits ranging from skiing to rafting. The region is celebrating the 250 anniversary with reenactments and special events centered on its two fort attractions: Fort Ligonier and Fort Necessity.
Fort Ligonier is a reconstruction of a fort built on the site by the Forbes Expedition as a staging area for taking Fort Duquesne. Near Farmington, Fort Necessity features a $12 million interpretative and educational center. Here, a 21-year-old Maj. George Washington, carrying a Virginia Colony order to the French to evacuate the region, skirmished in what the National Park Service describes as “the opening battle of a World War.”
“We offer world-class resorts, our signature Frank Lloyd Wright attractions and meetings retreats, and although we’re known as a rural destination, we have sophisticated towns and really good theater,” says Julie Donovan, public relations manager for the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright left his mark with Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, two 1930s-era homes. Built over a natural waterfall, Fallingwater features a restored circa-1870 barn that has three meeting spaces, the largest seating 150 people. Kentuck Knob can also handle small dinners and events.
A third, the Duncan House, designed by Wright and built in Lisle, Ill., was taken down, reassembled and unveiled last year near Acme specifically for meetings. Its Boulder Room can seat 120 people, and it offers lodging and public tours on Sundays.
The region’s two standout resorts can each handle groups of up to 1,000 people. In its second year with a AAA Five Diamond rating, the 2,800-acre Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington features 335 rooms, 23,000 square feet of meeting space and award-winning golf. At Seven Springs Mountain Resort at Champion is the state’s largest ski and year-round resort.
Several other hotels can handle groups of at least 500 people: Mountain View Hotel and Four Points by Sheraton at Greensburg, Summit Inn Resort at Farmington, and Holiday Inn Holidome at Uniontown.
Retreats with accommodations, each featuring meeting space for more than 300 people, include the Greek Orthodox Church’s Antiochian Village at Ligonier; Laurelville Mennonite Church Center; and the Catholic Church’s Saint Joseph Church Center. Also, St. Vincent College at Latrobe has conference space, the largest room holding up to 400 people.
Meanwhile, most of the Great Allegheny Passage is in the Laurel Highlands.
“It brings in thousands and thousands of visitors a year,” Donovan says, adding that it is two miles from Fallingwater, four miles from Kentuck Knob and 15 miles from Nemacolin Woodlands.
To the northeast of the Laurel Highlands, 60 miles from Pittsburgh, is Johnstown, a former steel city known for its devastating 1889 flood, a dam break that killed more than 2,000 people.
Popular tourist draws include the Johnston Flood Museum and the Johnstown Inclined Plane, which claims to be the world’s steepest vehicular inclined plane.
The city’s Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center provides 12,000 square feet of meeting space and 3,100 square feet of prefunction space, and is across from a 4,000-seat arena.
In addition, the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown campus features 45 meeting rooms handling groups of up to 2,400 people, as well as summer accommodations.
Erie
Anchoring the state’s northwestern corner and presiding over 50 miles of Lake Erie coastline is Erie, promoting its outdoor opportunities with the tagline, “Feel the Lake Effect.”
In a $100 million-plus project, the Bayfront Convention Center opened in August 2007 followed by its 200-room Sheraton Erie Bayfront headquarters hotel last April.
In addition, by the end of this year almost 1,000 new hotel rooms will have come into the market in a little over a year, bringing the destination’s total room count to nearly 5,000.
“We have a whole new infrastructure. We’re accessible and affordable and we combine big-city amenities and a smaller town, says Joe Holoday, VisitErie’s director of convention sales and services. “And we have the water element—the sailing, kayaking and fishing.”
Located on the shores of Presque Isle Bay with views of the lake, the nautical-themed Bayfront Convention Center features 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 13,500-square-foot ballroom and 14,500 square feet of additional meeting rooms. Connected by skybridge, the Sheraton has an additional 5,800 square feet of meeting space.
Waterfront attractions include the Erie Maritime Museum and the Brig Niagara, veteran of the War of 1812, and nearby downtown delivers shopping, museums, nightlife and a free trolley system.
Presque Isle State Park, a 3,200-acre peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, features a 13-mile loop road, more than 15 miles of trails and activities that include boating, fishing and swimming. Its Tom Ridge Environmental Center offers 7,000 square feet of exhibits, and it can handle events of up to 500 people.
Among the area’s other attractions are Presque Isle Downs & Casino, which unveiled its 2,800-slot casino in February 2007; Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park; Waldameer Park, which this year launched Ravine Flyer II, a wooden roller coaster that is more 3,000 feet long; and the Erie Zoo & Botanical Gardens.
Meetings-ready hotels include the Avalon Hotel and Conference Center and Bel-Aire Clarion Hotel and Conference Center, and the Ambassador Banquet & Conference Center can host up to 1,000 attendees.
Located in the Peach Street Business District, 10 minutes from downtown, the Ambassador is adjacent to a Courtyard by Marriott, and a second adjacent hotel, a Hilton Garden Inn, was about to open at press time. Since last winter, a SpringHill Suites and a Wingate Inn have opened in Erie, and a TownPlace Suites and a Comfort Suites were about to open at press time.
Unique off-site venue options include the Erie Historical Society, which features museums and a mansion, and the Warner Theatre, home of the 2,500-seat Erie Philharmonic.
For More Info
Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau 724.234.4619 www.visitbutlercounty.com
CVB of Greater Monroeville 412.856.7422 www.visitmonroeville.com
Johnstown/Cambria County CVB 814.536.7993 www.visitjohnstownpa.com
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau 724.238.5661 www.laurelhighlands.org
VisitErie 814.454.7191 www.visiteriepa.com
VisitPittsburgh 412.281.7711 www.visitpittsburgh.com
Washington County Tourism 724.228.5520
Promotion Agency www.washwow.com
