The region of midsize meetings destinations that comprise Central Illinois is increasingly piquing the interest of meeting planners who are after accessible and affordable cities and university towns on the Midwest map.
The area famously traces the early footsteps of President Abraham Lincoln via museums and historic sites in his honor, and offers groups a plethora of other attractions and activities, from championship golf outings and paddle wheel riverboat excursions to winery tours and lively theater performances.
If the laid-back charm complete with urban amenities is what the group is after, planners needn’t look further than Central Illinois.
Springfield
Much like there’s a map for history buffs to visit Lincoln’s old haunts throughout Springfield, the state capital also boasts a diverse map of meetings-equipped areas, according to Gina Gemberling, director of convention sales at the Springfield CVB.
“We’re fortunate to have three convention areas,” she says, citing downtown, which features the Prairie Capital Convention Center and the adjacent Hilton Springfield and President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center. “Plus, right off the interstate is the Crowne Plaza Springfield, with more than 60,000 square feet of function space. And at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, which hosts agriculture and other events, there are all sorts of things happening year-round.”
The Illinois State Fairgrounds on Route 66 is an attractive option for the auto market, according to Gemberling, who says with 366 acres, it is a prime spot for car shows.
“We’re also hosting the [National Horseshoe Pitchers Assn. of America] World Horseshoe Tournament there with 1,500 contestants from all over this summer.”
While the Springfield CVB courts national meetings, including military events such as the gathering of the Vietnam Veterans of America a couple years ago, its main focus is regional and state groups, Gemberling says.
“We’re very much a small-town community with a big-city feel,” she says, citing a walkable downtown with a nice variety of locally owned restaurants, specialty shops and Lincoln sights, including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM), the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Old State Capital and Lincoln’s Law Offices.
The ALPLM is a popular attraction and off-site group venue.
“Planners often hire local, independent performers who portray Abe Lincoln to mingle at events,” Gemberling adds.
Springfield, much like the rest of Central Illinois, is also home to many golf courses where delegates can count on a fun day of networking.
“We have plenty of courses that host group tournaments, including Panther Creek Country Club, which also holds an LPGA tournament annually,” Gemberling says.
Meanwhile, the LEED-certified, 80-acre Southwind Park is scheduled for completion by August. Highlights of the park will include a pavilion, lake gazebo, picnic shelters, gardens and bocce ball courts.
Peoria
With tier-one city amenities at second-tier city prices, value is the No. 1 appeal of Peoria in planners’ eyes, according to Brent Lonteen, president and CEO of the Peoria Area CVB.
“They don’t expect the big-city feel, then they see us and agree that we offer all these big-city amenities without big-city headaches,” he says. “For starters, every time I bring someone to the Peoria Civic Center (PCC), they can’t believe such a facility exists; it has a better than 80 percent retention rate, which speaks highly of the staff and the overall hospitality industry here.”
Lonteen adds that people don’t realize Peoria is a physically beautiful city situated on the Illinois River with plenty of attractions.
“It’s easy to get around, and you’re not paying $45 a day to park,” he says, citing two attractions, the 7,000-seat Peoria Chiefs Baseball Stadium nearby the PCC, and Rivermen hockey inside the PCC. “If you’re having a meeting [at the PCC] you can schedule time to walk in for a game.”
Joining the recently expanded PCC in downtown Peoria’s meetings portfolio is the Hotel Pere Marquette and the Holiday Inn-Peoria City Centre, as well as the upcoming 220-room, glass tower hotel that will sit directly across the street from the PCC. The facility, which is still on the drawing board, will include a 500-space parking deck and an elevated walkway that connects to the civic center.
Meanwhile, the 81-year old Hotel Pere Marquette will undergo a $40 million renovation to make it a full-service Marriott. It will include a walkway that will be connected to PCC. Construction is scheduled to begin in October.
West of downtown Peoria is another top meetings property: the Radisson Hotel Peoria.
There are also several standout group properties in East Peoria, including the Par-A-Dice Hotel & Casino, the East Peoria Event Center, Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center and the new Embassy Suites East Peoria, connected via walkway to the RiverFront Conference Center.
The Shoppes at Grand Prairie is a meetings area in bloom, Lonteen adds, citing Country Inn & Suites and Wingate properties that debuted last year, an 82-room Hampton Inn on track to open in September, and a 115-room Holiday Inn with meeting space also in the works.
After the meeting, attendees can head to one of several nearby wineries that double as off-site venues, including Mackinaw Valley Vineyard and Willett’s Winery & Cellar, both about 20 minutes from downtown Peoria, and Kickapoo Creek Winery, located only 10 minutes away in Wildlife Prairie State Park.
“The Wildlife Prairie State Park is an outdoor zoo, but it’s not a run-of-the-mill zoo, it’s a natural habitat so the animals roam on many acres and visitors can feed the buffalo,” Lonteen says.
The park has an indoor center with meeting space and cabins for corporate retreats.
Groups also enjoy golf events at WeaverRidge Golf Club and meal functions aboard the Spirit of Peoria paddleboat.
Bloomington/Normal
Southeast of Peoria, Bloomington and Normal are separate communities, but according to Crystal Howard, director of the Bloomington-Normal Area CVB, you wouldn’t know it.
“They work so well together,” she says. “They run into one another and they’re both meetings-friendly.”
Normal’s main meetings players include Illinois State University (ISU), which boasts 74,000 square feet of function space; the new Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, which is scheduled to open this fall across the street from ISU; and overflow Courtyard and Holiday Inn Express properties.
The new Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel and Conference Center will feature 230 guest rooms and more than 23,000 square feet of meeting space.
Bloomington is home to the Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center, the Parke Hotel and Conference Center, the Chateau Hotel & Conference Center and U.S. Cellular Coliseum, which provides an arena setting that suits religious groups and sporting tournaments.
“We get a lot of state tournaments because we’re situated in the center of the state,” Howard says. “Location is key.”
She adds that affordability and accessibility, including direct flights into the Central Illinois Regional Airport, are two more draws for planners.
“With all of this in place, plus how well our community works together, planners know they’ll be well taken care of, and they feel comfortable coming back year after year,” she says.
After the meeting, groups might take in a play, as the area’s theater scene is thriving, according to Howard.
“Theater is important here,” she says, citing the annual summertime Illinois Shakespeare Festival and the American Passion Play, running during the Easter season at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.
There are also plenty of golf opportunities for groups, according to Howard, who says Bloomington-Normal was rated fifth in Golf Digest’s list of the best American destinations for golf. Popular options include The Den at Fox Creek and Ironwood Golf Course.
Champaign/Urbana
According to Courtney Womack, marketing director at the Champaign County CVB, the “twin cities” of Champaign and Urbana have the same edge as neighbors Normal and Bloomington: location, location, location.
“Not only are we easily accessible and centrally located between Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis, but we have an entertainment experience similar to Chicago without the big-city price,” she says, citing an established arts community, sporting events, fine dining, a wide variety of nightlife and a healthy performing arts calendar, including shows at the University of Illinois-based Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
The University of Illinois (U of I) brings the two communities together, Womack adds, as half of the campus is in Champaign and half is in Urbana.
“U of I helps define the cultural sense of our destination,” she says. “And both areas are green-oriented for meetings.”
Champaign’s main meetings players are the Hilton Garden Inn Champaign/Urbana Conference Center, the Hawthorne Suites Conference Center and the new I Hotel and Conference Center.
Assembly Hall at U of I, located across from the I Hotel, hosts everything from conventions and trade shows to concerts and basketball games.
In Urbana, the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center and the Eastland Suites Hotel & Conference Center are meetings standbys.
Upcoming properties include a Comfort Suites in Urbana and a Candlewood Suites in Champaign.
In nearby Rantoul is the group-friendly Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch, featuring a banquet facility, corn maze, chuckwagon tours, Christmas tree farm, pedal car racetrack and Alaskan reindeer.
For off-site events, groups can utilize Crystal Lake Park in Urbana and Virginia Theatre in Champaign, home to the annual Ebertfest, featuring films that movie critic and Urbana native Roger Ebert feels are overlooked each year.
One of nicest public courses in the area, Stone Creek Golf Club, has an on-site restaurant, Kennedy’s, that accommodates groups of up to 200 people.
Decatur
Decatur is less than an hour from Champaign, Bloomington, Springfield and Amish Country, says Denene Wilmeth, executive director at the Decatur Area CVB, and therefore is the perfect hub and spoke destination in Central Illinois.
“We’re right in the middle of all of these places so we feel we’re a great spot for groups to hub and to do day trips from here,” she says.
Of course, there are many things to do and see within Decatur, including two historic sites that double as off-site venues: the Governor Oglesby Mansion (he was a good friend of Abe Lincoln), and the Macon County History Museum and Prairie Village Complex, featuring the only log courthouse that still exists and where Lincoln practiced law.
“We have a historic downtown with a lot of shops, eateries, bars and several art galleries,” Wilmeth says. “Plus, we also do many specialized group tours.”
Among the options is a stained-glass church tour, including stops at the First Presbyterian and African American Episcopal churches; a theater tour, including visits to the Kirkland Fine Arts Center at Millikin University and the Lincoln Theater, a rumored haunted venue that also hosts events on its stage; and farm tours for agriculture groups that book Decatur.
Main meeting facilities include the Decatur Civic Center and the Decatur Conference Center & Hotel, as well as Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn & Suites, Baymont Inn, Fairfield Inn, Country Inn & Suites by Carlson and Homewood Suites by Hilton properties.
Among the off-session options are the upcoming Chevrolet Hall of Fame Museum, opening this year with a collection of Chevys as well as function space; golf courses such as Scovill, Hickory Point and Red Tail Run; and the event-friendly Hieronymus Mueller Museum, which has a room upstairs that is available for dinner functions.
For More Info
Bloomington-Normal Area CVB 309.665.0033 www.bloomingtonnormalcvb.org
Champaign County CVB 217.351.4133 www.visitchampaigncounty.org
Decatur Area CVB 217.423.7000 www.decaturcvb.com
Peoria Area CVB 309.676.0303 www.peoria.org
Springfield CVB 217.789.2360 www.planonspringfieldil.com
