Leavenworth, Kansas
Home to one of the country’s oldest continuously operated military bases, Leavenworth, Kansas, long stood at the edge of the frontier, established American law and order, and provided a base from which the western United States was colonized.
Fort Leavenworth, originally established outside of American territory and continually serving the most advanced operations of the U.S. military to this day, has operated the Frontier Conference Center in one of its historic buildings for 75 years and opens the high-tech 50,000-square-foot space up to nonmilitary groups. Rooms include the intimate 40-seat hearth room; the ballroom, which can accommodate up to 390; and the 180-seat solarium, which overlooks the golf course and originally served as the base’s officers club.
In town, a historic venue allows meeting groups to transport their meetings back to Leavenworth’s heady days in the late 1800s. The Riverfront Community Center, constructed in 1888, was the city’s Union Depot and connected cargo and passengers from the Missouri River to the train station for decades, but now has been renovated into an event space that can accommodation up to 400.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
“It’s hard to get any more patriotic than being in Oklahoma City, with a significant number of bases and the huge Air Force contingent here,” said Oklahoma City Convention and Visitor Bureau president Michael Carrier. “But even more important is the Western heritage. We are the home of the pre-eminent Western museum in the country.”
The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum also includes its own 16,500-square-foot event center decorated with five monumental triptychs paintings of iconic Western landscapes, gardens and a 19-building replica old Western town for event rentals.
For a taste of Western life today, groups can also rent space at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, which bills itself as the world’s largest cattle market and hosts cattle auctions every Monday and Tuesday, or the Oklahoma State Fair Park, which hosts horse shows open for behind-the-scenes visits throughout much of the year. For some tamer outdoor fun, on the river, the Olympic City Olympics training center in the Boathouse District is the only facility in the United States with indoor flatwater and whitewater kayaking in the same location. Team-building includes such wide-ranging options as canoeing, kayaking, dragon boating and whitewater rafting led by Olympic coaches and medalists.
Back in the city center, two hotels in more-than-100-year-old buildings allow meeting groups to soak in two very different facets of local history during receptions or meetings. The 225-room Skirvin Hilton holds a top-floor ballroom that has been renovated back to its 1920s glory, and the 132-room 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City is housed in an automotive plant that was used continuously from 1916, before becoming a hotel, to manufacture parts for Ford cars, including the original Model T.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
As the first landing point of the initial group of American settlers who founded Jamestown, Virginia Beach’s American history runs much deeper than its fame as a beach destination with a three-mile-long boardwalk. The home of both First Landing State Park and the country’s first federal lighthouse at Cape Henry has a deep military pedigree.
“All of the branches of the military are represented here in one way or another,” said Todd Bertka, vice president of convention sales and management for the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Military Aviation Museum, which, thanks to the recent addition of a new hangar, can now hold up to 1,000 for a reception, can also hold smaller day meetings and evening receptions in the galleries.
Even Virginia Beach’s 500,000-square-foot LEED Gold-certified convention center gives planners looking for more traditional meeting spaces an option that fits with an all-American theme. “Our convention center looks like an aircraft carrier and is meant to reflect that vibe as well,” said Bertka. “We often host military reunions and aircraft carrier groups there.”
For groups that want to soak up Virginia Beach’s history without the lure of the beach right outside their meeting venue, the Georgian colonial Founders Inn and Spa spreads over a nearly 80-acre campus of English-style gardens adjacent to Regent University and features 25,000 square feet of meeting space and 240 rooms.
