From antebellum plantations to Zydeco music to Cajun heritage and Mardi Gras madness, Baton Rouge and Shreveport-Bossier City deliver heaping helpings of Louisiana culture. As major Bayou State metros, they also offer meeting planners big-town amenities at small-town prices. Expect state-of-the-art convention facilities, luxury full-service hotels and local CVBs ready to go out of their way to make sure your attendees "pass a good time" (Cajun-speak for "have fun").
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge is a grand old Southern city sitting on the mighty Mississippi, just 80 miles upriver from New Orleans. It is also a bubbling gumbo pot of culture, with everything from plantations to politics spicing up the mix.
"We offer a complexity of culture that really surprises visitors," says Renee Areng, executive vice-president of sales and marketing for the Baton Rouge Area CVB. "Plantation homes, Cajun and Creole cuisine and music, swamps and bayous, LSU (Louisiana State University) and our colorful political history are mixed right in with modern amenities like our convention center and lively downtown."
She and her team at the DMAI-accredited CVB are experts at adding that local flavor to meetings.
"From cooking demos on how to make a gumbo to crawfish boils in the bayou to candlelit dinners at a local plantation, there is really not much we can’t or won’t do to help planners incorporate our unique culture into their events," Areng says.
Baton Rouge’s largest conference facility is the Baton Rouge River Center (BRRC), located in the heart of the downtown district, right on the Mississippi. The complex includes a 70,000-square-foot convention center, a 10,000-seat arena, a grand ballroom, a 1,900-seat theater and several breakout rooms. The lobby and second-floor verandah boast spectacular views over the Mississippi and are popular spots for sunset receptions after all-day sessions.
Along with two meetings-ready, full-service hotels—the 300-room Sheraton Convention Center Hotel and the 290-room Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center—the convention center area can host groups of up to 1,500 comfortably right downtown.
"Visitors often comment on how walkable our downtown area is," Areng says.
The area offers attendees a variety of restaurants, bars, boutiques and events, including Live After Five, a free outdoor concert series, and Wine Down Wednesdays, a wine bar crawl.
Beyond downtown, Baton Rouge has more than 9,000 hotel rooms and several venues to host up to 5,000 attendees for a citywide event. The largest meetings hotels are the 300-room Baton Rouge Marriot, with 20,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 294-room Crown Plaza Baton Rouge, with 30,000 square feet. Other meetings options include Holiday Inn Baton Rouge South, Embassy Suites, Best Western Richmond Suites and Cook Hotel and Conference Center, located at LSU.
As Louisiana’s state capital, Baton Rouge offers unique political venues for off-site events. Consider a reception at the Old Governor’s Mansion, a white colonnaded building nicknamed "Louisiana’s White House," or the Old State Capitol, a Gothic castle now designated a National Historic Landmark. Areng suggests hiring a Huey P. Long (Louisiana’s legendary governor) impersonator to add local color to your event. For more serious entertainment, both the capitol and LSU offer easy access to politicians and speakers.
Baton Rouge sits on Louisiana’s famed River Road, where dozens of antebellum mansions reflect the power and wealth of the pre-Civil War South, including Nottoway Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Houmas House and Magnolia Mound.
"The CVB can arrange a tour to several plantations or an evening reception complete with Creole cuisine and actors in period costumes," Areng says.
Baton Rouge is also the gateway to Cajun Country—the swamplands and grassy plains of western Louisiana, where etouffee and Zydeco reign and locals take any excuse to throw a fais-do-do (traditional Cajun shindig). Attendees can join the fun at Boutin’s Cajun Restaurant or Bayview on the Bayou, a rustic function hall on the bayou.
Over at Alligator Bayou, groups can take an eco-tour of the local swamps, get up close and personal with a few resident gators, and wrap up with a Cajun feast on a pavilion right in the swamp. Or the Baton Rouge CVB can bring the party right to your hotel.
"We work with the hotel chef to prepare a traditional Cajun meal and bring in Cajun musicians, humorists or Cajun dance troupe Dans le Soir to demonstrate the Cajun two-step and get the attendees out on the floor," Areng says.
During downtime, attendees can enjoy the local pastime of tubing—that is, sitting in an oversized inner tube and floating down the crystal clear waters of the Amite River. Local outfitter Tiki Tubing can even arrange a floating picnic with a snack-filled floating cooler. More refined adventure can be found hunting through the boutiques and antique shops on Government Street. And for those who want to have their fun and eat it too, the Main Stick Market hosts hands-on cooking courses where attendees can learn how to prepare Louisiana goodies like gumbo and jambalaya.
Directly across the Mississippi River from downtown Baton Rouge is the parish of West Baton Rouge and the river town of Port Allen. The area’s motto is "On the river. On the way," and that couldn’t be more apt when it comes to meetings. The West Baton Rouge Conference Center offers 7,000 square feet of meeting space right off Interstate 10. Adjacent to the center is seven acres of land where groups can host outdoor events ranging from crawfish boils to concerts.
The Mississippi plays a big role in the local culture, and the Port Allen Lock, which connects the river to the Intracoastal Waterway, is one of the main attractions. Another popular spot is the Mississippi Riverfront Development, a 1.5-mile park snaking along the river. The West Baton Rouge CVB can arrange a cochon de lait (Cajun pig roast) at the site.
More Cajun fun can be found at Couzan’s, a dance hall featuring live Zydeco music. It is right next door to Bergeron Cajun Meats, a legendary deli that draws long lines for its homemade boudin—a spicy Cajun sausage made with rice. Groups are catered for at both locations.
Other off-site venues include the West Baton Rouge Museum complex, which houses a 1904 sugar mill and an 1850s slave cabin, and Poplar Grove Plantation, an 1884 Victorian mansion on the National Register of Historic Places.
Shreveport-Bossier City
The twin cities of Shreveport and Bossier City are separated by the Red River and not much else.
"We really are one community that happens to be in two separate parishes," says Kim Brice, vice president of convention marketing for the Shreveport-Bossier City Convention and Tourist Bureau. "A visitor would never notice where one stops and the other begins."
That is also true for meeting planners, who will find state-of-the-art facilities, meetings-ready hotels and value for money on both sides of the river.
"We are a second-tier destination with first-tier amenities," Brice says.
This means affordable pricing comes with top services you wouldn’t expect in small communities, such as Gumbeaux Production, a full-fledged event production company based right in Shreveport.
"But our top amenity is our people, and visitors always comment on how warmly they are welcomed here," Brice says. "From the CVB to the local restaurants, we really let convention delegates know they are VIPs."
Though smaller meetings are the bread and butter of Shreveport and Bossier City, the area can easily handle up to 2,500-attendee events thanks to the Shreveport Convention Center, which offers 350,000 square feet of meeting space, 10 breakout rooms and the Red River Boardroom, with its expansive views over the river. The convention center is adjacent to the 313-room Hilton Hotel Shreveport.
Other large facilities in Shreveport include Riverview Hall and Theater, with over 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, and Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, a refurbished 1954 copper-topped arena with 28,000 square feet of exhibition space and seating for 11,000-plus.
Across the river, the Bossier Civic Center offers over 31,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, while the CenturyTel Center—home to the Mudbugs hockey team—can seat up to 14,000 in its arena setting.
Meetings-ready hotels in the twin cities include Courtyard by Marriott Shreveport, Clarion Hotel Shreveport, Holiday Inn Shreveport West, Ramada Inn and Conference Center, and Residence Inn by Marriott-Bossier City.
Several of the riverboat casinos are attached to hotels with spacious meeting facilities, including Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino, with 18,000 square feet of meeting space, and DiamondJacks Casino and Resort, with 22,000 square feet of function space. Harrah’s Louisiana Downs combines a Vegas-style casino and an all-suite hotel with thoroughbred racing and can arrange elegant receptions of up to 400 people.
The most popular off-site venue is Sci-Port Discovery Center, an award-winning interactive science and space museum that will have attendees of all ages in awe.
"A group favorite is a catered dinner underneath the stars in the museum’s dome planetarium," Brice says.
Historical sites include Centenary College, which opened in 1825 and offers several on-campus venues; the Municipal Memorial Auditorium, where Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Sr. and Johnny Cash all gave early performances; Logan Mansion, a spectacular—and spooky—1897 Queen Anne Victorian home where tours feature ghost stories; the Eighth Air Force Museum and its "air park" of historic military planes; and the Ark-La-Tex Mardi Gras museum.
Outdoor venues include the American Rose Center, featuring a giant rose garden and an elegant reception hall for 300 people. Riverview Park, a recreational area of dancing fountains and riverside pavilions, is available for events—from Texas-style barbecues to fireworks parties. Smaller groups can cruise the river on the Spirit of the Red River or explore the world’s largest cypress forest aboard the Caddo Lake Steamboat.
Land-based fun includes the Louisiana Boardwalk, a sprawling outlet mall offering shopping, dining and entertainment right on the river in Bossier City. A bit more upscale is the Line Avenue Shopping District—"Shreveport’s Main Street"—which is home to dozens of locally owned boutiques and antique shops.
