Southern Arizona dispenses with formality and welcomes attendees with casual friendliness, and groups will enjoy its zesty cuisine and memorable team-building opportunities set against a backdrop of picturesque desert scenery.
Tucson
It's too hot to hurry, and a suit is out of the question. Tucson's congenial atmosphere invites groups to relax, mingle and enjoy.
"The first thing you notice is that people are more casual in their dress and attitude," says Graeme Hughes, director of convention sales at Visit Tucson. "Throw in a spectacular Arizona sunset and some local entertainment and there's no need for an ice-breaker. People come early and stay late as they appreciate the change of pace and scenery."
One of the best ways to engage groups with each other and with the destination is with unique team-building programs. Tanque Verde Ranch gives groups the chance to bond by working together to pen cattle on horseback. Groups of three to six riders must cooperate to guide cattle around obstacles and into a pen. Other options include rodeo-style competitions, private breakfast trail rides and barbecues. The ranch can host groups as large as 250.
Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort hosts Wild West-themed team-building events such as teepee- and covered- wagon-building. The 500-acre resort offers more than 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space.
Visiting groups can also opt to give back to this beautiful region by participating in outdoor volunteer activities. A group service event can get attendees active and working together in the magnificent landscape while performing needed projects for Arizona State Parks, Arizona Trail Association or Tucson Botanical Gardens.
For stressed out teams in need of professional help, Tucson's renowned destination spas have the answer. In addition to an 80,000-square-foot spa complex and more than 23,000 square feet of meeting space, Canyon Ranch provides truly creative group activities. Opportunities can include a group drawing or painting excursion in the inspiring outdoors, or a field trip to a local farmers market to shop for ingredients, followed by a cooking class and private lunch. PageBreak
Tucson is also home to a large collection of one-of-a-kind museums that can lend wonder to any reception. Pima Air & Space Museum showcases the science and history of flight and space travel. One of the world's largest aviation museums, it exhibits more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft. The museum can welcome receptions as large as 800.
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum will captivate groups as large as 1,000 with its exhibits celebrating the beauty and ecology of this spectacular area. Located adjacent to Saguaro National Park, the museum also offers attendees the chance to encounter desert animals accompanied by trained handlers during private events.
Tucson Museum of Art is the centerpiece of El Presidio Historic District and occupies a block lined with homes dating from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The museum provides an artistic lens through which to view the landscapes and history of the region and the cultures that have blended to form the Arizona experience. Permanent collections include Art of the American West, Art of Latin America, and Modern and Contemporary Art. The facility can host receptions as large as 1,000.
Meanwhile, Tucson Convention Center boasts 205,000 square feet of event space, including a 21,000-square-foot ballroom. Tucson Expo Center has 155,000 square feet of space. Larger meetings hotels in Tucson include JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa, with 81,000 square feet of meeting space; Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, with 64,000 square feet of event space; and Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort & Spa, with more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space.
Planners considering hosting an event in Tucson should be aware of an incentive Visit Tucson is offering through 2014. The bureau will credit as much as $5,000 on the hotel master account for meeting planners who book at least two peak nights, depending on how many rooms are secured. Details can be found at www.tucsononus.com. PageBreak
Yuma
Cuisine is the hot ticket in Yuma. A long growing season and strong agricultural tradition means fresh, local produce year-round, and planners are beginning to take advantage of this bounty with food-oriented group activities.
"There is a huge trend of emphasizing the vast culinary opportunities and experiential dining that foodies will love," says Kazmir Dinse, group sales manager at the Yuma Visitors Bureau. "Here in the winter vegetable capital of the world, you can do a variety of things, including having food prepared for you from the crops you pick yourself, bottling wine with a personal label, and taking a cooking class within a historic cultural center."
The bureau's Field to Feast tour starts with a farming lesson at the University of Arizona research farm. Groups are given recipe cards listing the ingredients for dinner, and guided by agriculture students as they harvest the food themselves. While attendees relax after their hard work, culinary students from Arizona Western College will prepare a banquet from the freshly picked produce.
For the epicures, the curious or simply the peckish, a hands-on cooking class with Tina Clark at Tina's Cocina fits the bill. Held at the historic St. Paul's Cultural Center, the classes welcome groups as large as 18 to learn how to make tamales, margaritas and salsa, or even sushi. Clark will also cater formal banquets as large as 50 at the location. In addition, the center can host events as large as 250 in its 1909 Gothic church and as many as 80 in the English castle-style annex building.
Yuma's Main Squeeze, a downtown winery, welcomes groups for a number of unique grape-oriented events. Wine bottling parties are limited to groups of 12 and send each person home with custom wine they bottled themselves. Wine tastings and Wine 101 classes are available to groups of any size, and the company can also take groups on a walking wine tour of downtown Yuma.
Julieanna's Patio Cafe is on the shortlist of group-friendly dining options. The restaurant offers eclectic fine dining in a colorful, tropical atmosphere that includes several resident macaw parrots. The private dining room seats 20, the entire restaurant seats 140, and there is a party tent that can welcome approximately 300.
Yuma offers several spaces perfect for midsize meetings. The Yuma Civic Center features 34,000 square feet of space located next door to Desert Hills, an 18-hole championship golf course. Together, Pivot Point Conference Center and the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn Yuma/Pivot Point Hotel have 21,500 square feet of meeting space. Quechan Casino Resort is home to the 20,000-square-foot Pipa Events Center.
Kelly Crumrin is a frequent contributor to Meeting Focus.
