Off-site Options
Off-site venues abound in this metropolitan area of more than 616,000.
Close to downtown, the Boise State University campus has five meeting sites, including the four-level Stueckly Sky Center that sits atop Bronco Stadium and overlooks its famous blue football field. Three private banquet rooms provide a total of 14,704 square feet of space, including 7,100 at the Double R Ranch Club, plenty for a stand-up reception for 500.
Between 1872 and 1973, about 13,000 of the West’s most desperate criminals did hard time in the Old Idaho Penitentiary. Now groups can visit the stark, imposing structure; peek into solitary confinement, the cell blocks and the gallows; and admire the prison’s impressive collection of historic arms and military artifacts. Attendees can creep out at a spooky Halloween event.
A 45-minute drive from Boise, Cascade Raft and Kayak gets folks out into Idaho’s exceptional natural beauty.
“It’s easy to schedule a raft trip as an ice breaker at the beginning of a meeting, an extra event if people are coming early or staying late, or for team building,” said Anne Long, whose family has owned and run the business since 1985. Team competition happens on water and land.
Afterward, paddlers can dine on a deck overlooking the Payette River, complete with on-tap microbrews.
At the 40,000-square-foot Warhawk Air Museum, aviation history is on tap through memorabilia from World Wars I and II and the Korean, Cold and Vietnam wars; static and operational aircraft from those eras are also on display.
“We can seat up to 500 for a dinner with docents as tour guides and live music, all among priceless World War II aircraft,” said Pat Kilroy, executive director.
With a mission of “creating an environment to inspire human potential,” Jack’s Urban Meeting Place (JUMP) is a not-for-profit off-site venue that’s pure think-outside-the-box. Options include a kitchen studio, where groups of 30 can create recipes for an Iron Chef competition, or participatory activities — “explorative playing” in JUMP language — for up to 170. A theater-style room can host 525 seated.
“We meet with planners to determine their team-building goals so as to provide a personalized opportunity to enhance collaboration and communication,” said Kathy O’Neill, JUMP’s community engagement director. “For example, they might create something together to benefit their community in our Make Studio.”
At the Wahooz Fun Zone, meeting rooms can accommodate 10 to 300 guests; a new 12,500-square-foot Galaxy Event Center can hold up to 600. This extraordinary team-building site has a new four-story, 17,000-square-foot adventure park with a ropes course and amusement rides, a laser maze, neon-lit bumper cars that hover, bumper boats, bowling, miniature golf, an arcade and a restaurant. There’s even an eight-person photo booth.
