To have “je ne sais quoi” as a destination is to possess an atmospheric, unmistakable quality that irresistibly invites discovery.
As leisure and business travelers—meeting planners, conventioneers and other groups included—are increasingly finding, Greenville, S.C., has ample credentials for this charm club. To analogize from its former powerhouse textile industry, the fabric of this fast-growing city in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is woven from resiliently time-tested fibers.
First settled around 1770, Greenville County sprang up in 1786, where the village of Pleasantburg, established in 1797, was renamed Greenville in 1831. Through the ages, past lives include early summer resort escape, Civil War-era haven for Union refugees and Jazz Age boomtown. Then there were the cotton mills. Connected by ribbons of steel—the railroads—Greenville County’s mills powered the region’s economy from the mid-1800s onward. Proclaiming itself the “Textile Center of the South” at the inaugural Textile Exposition in 1915, Greenville’s milling muscle was such that by the 1960s it was calling itself “Textile Capital of the World.”
As foreign competition and suburban shopping centers steadily eroded Greenville’s manufacturing base over the following decade, the City began crafting a downtown master plan that would bring businesses and people back to the area.
Considered an unqualified turnaround triumph, the eventual renaissance continues to attract glowing accolades from the travel and business media, including Peter Greenberg of CBS This Morning, Lonely Planet and Forbes.
With plenty to shout about, VisitGreenvilleSC, the city’s tourism bureau, launched its award-winning “Yeah, THAT Greenville” marketing campaign in 2013.
From Greenville’s dynamic dining scene and cultural treasures to its abundant outdoor opportunities and rich heritage, the initiative showcases the stories and surprises behind the city’s “je ne sais quoi.” Across the U.S., some 36 towns and villages are named Greenville—but it’s Greenville, S.C., that has the attention of meeting planners and groups.
Bridge Building
Animated by traditional Southern charm, warm hospitality and an unexpected contemporary cool, Greenville’s combination of convention hosting prowess with fetching attractions and off-agenda amenities has landed the city square on the group radar.
It was not always that way.
“For years, Greenville, S.C., was one of America’s best-kept secrets,” says Jennifer Stilwell, VisitGreenvilleSC’s executive vice president and chief strategic officer. “Prior to launching the “Yeah THAT Greenville” brand, we had never been to market before,” she continues. “We had no brand identity, and Greenville was not in people’s travel consideration set.”
That was then.
“Now we’re among America’s best-loved cities,” Stilwell says, citing the delight of first-time arrivals. “Thrilled with what they discover, many visitors wonder how we’ve kept Greenville under wraps for so long,” she says. “The simple truth is, we haven’t—the word is getting out!”
Greenville is hard to resist. Just ask star chef Teryi Youngblood, who wows diners at group-capable Passerelle Bistro.
Steps from Main Street, the restaurant has an unbeatable location by The Liberty Bridge. Centerpiece of the $13 million revitalization of 32-acre Falls Park a decade ago—the city’s birthplace along the Reedy River, where mills and warehouses once stood—this curving, 355-foot-long suspension bridge overlooking the 40-foot Reedy Falls is Greenville’s ace card.
“Walking to and from the restaurant each day, I hear visitors talking on the bridge as they photograph the falls,” Youngblood says. “The word is about returning to Greenville—and telling their spouses, colleagues or bosses to come as well. Next thing you know, planners are bringing their annual conference here.”
Credit the branding campaign for this word-of-mouth impact.
“As consumers discover the hidden gem that is Greenville, they want to visit, and in turn, meetings and convention planners gain confidence in Greenville as a destination that will attract attendees,” Stilwell says.
For planners like Bassmaster’s Michael Mulone (also see “Case Study”), Greenville richly rewards the buying decision.
Greenville comfortably hosts corporate events, tradeshows, conferences, sporting events and conventions of most every size. Minutes from downtown, TD Convention Center is among the Southeast’s largest and most accommodating facilities, with the flexibility and value to match. With a recent $22 million enhancement, the city-owned venue offers 280,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space and 60,000 square feet of meeting, ballroom and conference space. Downtown, the newly renovated 15,000-seat Bon Secours Wellness Arena is the largest in the state and one of the Southeast’s premier sports and entertainment facilities.
Offering 1,000-plus downtown rooms with 273 rooms under construction and another 670 planned, group hotels include the AAA Four Diamond Westin Poinsett, a heritage update with 200 rooms and suites and 12,000-plus square feet of space. Also on Main Street, the newly renovated 330-room also a AAA 4-diamond Hyatt Regency Greenville offers 35,000 square feet of space that includes 17 meeting rooms and venues.
With recent wins that include the Brick Industry Association’s Southeast Brick Forum 2016 (1,400 delegates) and the national conference of IT products and services distributor Synnex Corporation (1,300 attendees), Greenville’s robust economy also drives meetings and convention growth.
PageBreak
Strategically located along the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte, Greenville is in a designated foreign trade zone and boasts the highest level of foreign capital investment per capita in the nation.
Attracting a high corporate concentration across diverse industries—more than 250 international firms from 26 nations, including BMW and Michelin, plus domestic players like IBM and Bank of America—this designation earned Greenville major honors from the Financial Times. In its 2015 “American Cities of the Future” report, the publication’s fDi Intelligence division placed Greenville first overall among American “micro-cities,” including top billing for economic potential.
Greater Greenville is also strong in academia and R&D, including Clemson and Furman Universities, as well as CU-ICAR, the world’s premier automotive research, innovation and educational enterprise, and the International Transportation Innovation Center.
“We closely collaborate with VisitGreenvilleSC and other partners on developing, promoting and marketing the area,” says Mary Douglas Hirsch, Downtown Manager, Economic Development for the City of Greenville. “The vibrancy and momentum here is unparalleled for a city our size.”
In textile days and across the generations, “threads” are the ties that bind in Greenville. Then as now, community spirit is the city’s most vital ingredient.
“Great tourism destinations share a common element—love from their citizenry,” says Chris Stone, president of VisitGreenvilleSC. “The reasons people choose to live here are the same ones that attract and drive tourism,” he continues. “That’s why our best advocates are our local residents. Excited and eager to share their home with others, they have helped make Greenville a special place to visit.”
As Stone also observes, authenticity is a key element for today’s savvy travelers and delegates, and from the culinary arts to the great outdoors, Greenville is as naturally gifted as they come.
A Colorful Tapestry
Boasting famed infrastructure that includes Campbell’s Covered Bridge, the state’s sole surviving covered bridge from 1909; Poinsett Bridge, the oldest in the state (1820); and the show-stopping Liberty Bridge, Greenville runs with links to the past.
On Downtown’s scenic Heritage Green, the Upcountry History Museum showcases the diverse history of Upstate South Carolina, otherwise known as the Upcountry. The evocative building, its clock tower evoking Greenville’s Old City Hall, includes Textile Hall, reflecting the Upcountry’s textile-producing past. Full venue rentals are available for 500 people, with flexible smaller options.
PageBreak
Also accommodating 500 guests is the Old Cigar Warehouse, a circa-1882 cigar and cotton storage facility with 45-foot ceilings updated for event rental. With past lives including stagecoach factory and the first production facility for tangy Southern favorite Duke’s Mayonnaise, Wyche Pavilion hosts events alongside the Reedy River.
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson, of World Series game-fixing infamy in 1919, is remembered at his namesake Museum & Baseball Library. Private tours of the venue, Jackson’s former home, are available by appointment.
With 100-plus restaurants in greater downtown and another 600-plus county-wide, delegates have a universe of culinary options all over town.
Main Street choices include The Loft at Soby’s. This elegant private dining destination comprises a fully furnished apartment complete with kitchen, dining room, rooftop patio, living room and two luxurious bedrooms. With customized menus prepared on-site, options include receptions for 100 guests utilizing the patio and lounge, plus seated dinners or meetings for 24 attendees.
Epicurean excursions include “At the Chef’s Table” and the Greenville BBQ Trail tour from Greenville History Tours (also see “History Q&A”). Groups can also arrange guided craft brewery tours with The Brewery Experience.
In downtown’s West End, Zen is a contemporary 12,000-square-foot venue with a fully equipped commercial kitchen available to outside caterers and chefs. Also featuring two bars, a private conference room and a Japanese garden, this elegant space is ideal for dinner parties and receptions.
Groups hungry for arts and culture (also see “Culture Q&A”) are also well served in Greenville.
Home to five resident companies, including the Greenville Symphony Orchestra and Carolina Ballet Theatre, the multi-venue, event-capable Peace Center is an architectural and acoustic resource in the heart of downtown.
Home to the third-largest collection of religious art in the world outside of the Vatican and British Monarchy, the event-capable Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University also entices visitors with preeminent Baroque paintings, Romanov-era Russian icons and antiquities spanning time. Among the nation’s premier American art museums, the Greenville County Museum of Art features the world’s largest public collection of Andrew Wyeth watercolors, plus significant works of Jasper Johns.
Under two miles from downtown, the historical mill Village of West Greenville is home to a colorful palette of artists, galleries, restaurants and shops.
Delegates can also stretch their legs—and roar their engines—in Greenville’s great outdoors.
BMW has been a major manufacturing force in Greenville for two decades. At the BMZ Zentrum Museum (presently under renovation, re-opening in late 2016), facility rentals include the 250-seat auditorium, expansive exhibit space and guided plant tours as available. Groups can also get behind the wheel with professional instructors at the $12.5 million, 64,000 square-foot BMW Performance Driving School, which includes a state-of-the-art conference center.
The Greenville Drive, Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, play at Fluor Field at the west end. Seating 5,000 fans, the group-capable park is a mini-replica of Boston’s Fenway Park, 30-foot-high “Green Monster” included.
Running along the Reedy River, the 21-mile, multi-use GHS Swamp Rabbit Trail is for jogging, biking and group geocaching. Two state parks, Caesars Head and Paris Mountain, offer hiking and other outdoor excursions amid the panoramic splendor of the Upcountry region and Blue Ridge Mountains. Groups can also saddle up for Horseback Waterfall Tours with experienced guides.
