It’s hard to compete with the desert for natural drama. The stark beauty of its seemingly endless landscape creates an unforgettable setting. The sky, a brilliant blue by day, painted by pastel hues at sunset, then morphing into an inky black canvas sprinkled with stars, provides the backdrop.
It’s more than the mere beauty of the place that attracts groups, however. Rather, the desert provides a unique opportunity to encounter a place quite different than almost any other.
Whether it’s a re-created Western frontier town, a ranch or the ruins of an ancient pueblo, these venues will guarantee that groups experience the desert at its best.
La Puesta del Sol, Phoenix
www.fortmcdowelladventures.com
While there are several Western-style ranch venues in the desert region around Phoenix, none can compare to the La Puesta del Sol, located on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, 23 miles northeast of the city.
“It’s the most unique,” says Kristin Tacey, account executive with Southwest Conference Planners in Scottsdale. “You’re out away from the city. You get off and you’re on a dirt road. And you pull up to an adobe structure.”
That adobe structure is a dramatic Spanish-mission style entrance to a venue that offers seating for up to 500, and if the outdoor space is used, it can accommodate up to 1,600 attendees for sit-down dinners.
“The place is so big so you can do a lot of different things. You can hike and bike, and horseback ride and fish and raft. There’s an arena, so you can do a Western rodeo. We do a lot of team building, with activities like wagon building, teepee building and orienteering,” Tacey says. Yavapai dancers provide another entertainment option.
Old Tucson Studios, Tucson
www.oldtucson.com
Originally created in 1939 as the set for the movie “Arizona,” Old Tucson has been the set for more than 300 movies and Western TV shows since then and is now a re-created Western frontier town for visitors as well.
“It’s an actual working studio. By watching movies and seeing TV shows, people have been exposed to Old Tucson Studios and don’t really know it,” says Marilyn McIver, general manager of Southwest Conference Planners in Tucson. “People have an experience that’s a kind of a fantasy thing.”
McIver has done events at Old Tucson in the past and is taking an association group of 150 attendees there in January.
“You can’t take a group much smaller than that because you don’t do the place justice,” she says.
Old Tucson can accommodate 50 to 5,000 people in a variety of venues that include the set from the <<High Chaparral>> television show, which can seat up to 75 people; Grand Palace Hotel and Saloon, which accommodates up to 300 people; and Bitter Creek, for up to 800 people. Catering options range from picnics to black tie affairs. Your event can be enlivened with our gunfight re-enactments and stunts, saloon hall musicals and stage shows. In October, three new streets and 12 new building sets will open in Heritage Square at the heart of Old Tucson, giving planners even more options for their groups.
Pecos Pueblo, Santa Fe, New Mexico
www.nps.gov/peco
Pecos Pueblo draws three crucial periods of U.S. history into a site that makes for a stunning setting for outdoor group events. During the 1500s, it was one of the largest settlements in North America and a powerful trading center for the Pecos Indians. A century later the Spaniards arrived and built a mission. And the Battle of Glorieta Pass brought the Civil War to the area in 1862.
“This one little place is surrounded by so much history that impacted the growth of America. And it’s located in one of the most beautiful spots anywhere, near the headwaters of the Pecos River,” says Arlene Schiffer, president of Passport DMC in Santa Fe. “There’s an arresting beauty and silence there. The views are gorgeous. You’re in a bowl of the mountains. The architectural style of the mission and the ancient pueblo merge and create something that’s part of nature.”
Schiffer has done everything from picnics with box lunches to sit-down steak dinners for 40 people and up.
“It’s nice to do it by the upper ruins. You’re using the existing parking lot, so you have a good place for setting up tents and tables,” she says. “It's not just a dinner, it’s an experience. It’s something you can take away and remember, because it only happens once.”
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
www.gpgallery.com
An art gallery, especially one in Santa Fe, provides a venue that may enhance a group’s desert experience not only through its architecture and atmosphere, but also through the scenes depicted by the artists it represents.
Galleries are a favorite of Lydia Griego-Hansen, co-owner of Destination Southwest in Albuquerque. “We like to feature some art galleries that are high-desert style, maybe in their sculpture gardens,” she says. “These are for more high-end groups, and our favorite is Gerald Peters Gallery.”
With its six galleries and sculpture garden, the venue works well for the cocktail parties of under 100 guests that Griego-Hansen has held there. She uses both the inside and outside spaces of this gallery, located in a pueblo-style adobe building. It specializes in classic Western art, paintings of the Santa Fe Art Colony and the Taos Society of Artists, along with a variety of other genres, sculpture and photography.
In addition to cocktail parties, the gallery also does sit-down dinners. The various galleries accommodate between 40 and 180 and the garden 200.
“You can do cocktails or hors d’oeuvres in the garden and then move inside for dinner. We can do 350 inside and 200 outside,” says Elizabeth Hubbard, the gallery’s event manager. “The best thing about this venue is that no decorations are required.”
Bonnie Springs Ranch, near Las Vegas
www.bonniesprings.com
Bonnie Springs Ranch dates back to 1843, when it served as a waypoint for the wagon trains headed for California. Located in Red Rock Canyon 10 minutes west of Las Vegas, it is now a replica Wild West frontier town that is a popular tourist attraction, as well as a venue for special events.
“It has an out-in-the-desert kind of feel and a beautiful location. The ranch is down and dirty but the setting is beautiful,” says Francine McKanna, president and owner of PRA Las Vegas. “It primarily appeals to international groups at this point, but they’re working hard to attract more corporate business. It’s not high-end, but it’s fun. It’s more fun than high-end.”
Entertainment at Bonnie Springs includes country-western bands, saloon girls, line dancers and cowboys on horseback. The saloon where barbecue dinners are served can seat up to 600, and groups of up to 1,000 can take over the entire town. For those planners whose attendees might be interested in horseback riding, Red Rock Stables offers guided trail rides.
The Empire Polo Club, Indio, Calif.
www.empirepoloevents.com
As the largest venue in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area, The Empire Polo Club not only offers a full range of options for groups of every size, but it also offers a unique experience that groups may never encounter again. They will be able to watch a private exhibition polo match and meet the players and their horses. Planners also have a variety of venues to choose from.
“It’s multifaceted. It gives us a lot of opportunities for clients,” says Bob Carey, president of PRA Destination Management Palm Springs. “We put on evening events where we do the polo experience, have dinner and then play golf cart polo afterwards. The polo riders drive the golf courts and the guests use the mallets to play polo. We’ve done breakfasts, award centers, team building. It’s great because it has so many venues out there. You could have two or three events going on at the same time and never know the others were there.”
The club has four venues. The Rose Garden with its 7,000 rose bushes, fountains and three gazebos can accommodate up to 500 people. Medjhool Lake, a 10-acre site of lush foliage, a tiki hut and three giant tented sites overlooking the polo field, can host up to 2,500 attendees. The Forum, a giant permanent superstructure, seats up to 4,000. The Hacienda del Toro, with its three acres of landscaped gardens highlighted by an aviary with waterfalls, accommodates up to 800. In addition, the Tack Room Tavern can handle between 100 and 500 guests.
