Meeting planners looking to host events beyond the ballroom will find an abundance of options in Wisconsin. Unique venues throughout the state help attendees get out into nature, explore the state’s scenic beauty, and partake in sporting events or educational opportunities.
Round Lake Farms
Brillion
Brillion’s Round Lake Farms is an event venue that’s part of the Ariens Nordic Center, where athletes who compete in the biathlon train year-round in cross-country skiing and rifle shooting on 250 acres of rolling hills with trails throughout. The 12,000-square-foot venue sits on a hill that overlooks the Nordic Center and Round Lake.
Built on the site of an old barn, the venue incorporates the original silo in its design. The second floor is a gathering hall for up to 300 people theater style and 200 for a banquet. The lower level is a gallery that can be used with the gathering hall.
A full bar downstairs is modeled after a British pub. Smaller meeting spaces include a tasting room on the lower level for board meetings or parties of up to 36 guests, a top-floor boardroom for 24, and a full deck and patio. Some groups rent the entire property and have a cocktail reception downstairs before moving upstairs for dinner.
The facility’s executive chef and staff prepare food for events. For fun, athletes can give a short training course on biathlon and then allow attendees to shoot at targets with biathlon rifles. Miles of trails can be explored year-round.
ariensnordic.com/round-lake-farms
The Landing at Hoyt Park
Wauwatosa
The Landing at Hoyt Park in Wauwatosa is a seasonal beer garden where diners drink local and international beer and wine and eat traditional beer garden fare like giant pretzels, brats and pizza at European-style picnic tables. Opened in 2013, the Landing was built on the north end of the park’s historic bathhouse to complement its community pool and bring more people to Hoyt Park.
The beer garden service window is in the same building as the pool and Grand Hall, an event space where 1930s-era craftmanship has been preserved as modern touches like acoustic panels, pendant lighting, flat-screen TVs and a 10-foot screen with projector were added. It is air conditioned and has a wood-burning fireplace.
Groups can rent out the beer garden during the day or book the Grand Hall and the pool for events.
The facility was renovated and is run by the Friends of Hoyt Park and Pool, a nonprofit community organization founded to save the only public swimming pool in Milwaukee County.
The Grand Hall once served as the basket room, where swimmers stored personal items in baskets when they visited the pool. It can host up to 80 guests, and groups that rent it can order food.
The Nature Place
LaCrosse
The Nature Place in La Crosse is a community center with a nature theme. The center is in Myrick Park, where nature trails thread near the river bluffs and the La Crosse River Marsh. Constructed in 2009, the community center is architecturally stunning, with a 26-foot-tall black willow tree used as structural support inside an atrium with 114 towering windows and a treehouse-style loft.
Visitors can play games, work puzzles, go on scavenger hunts or see the live reptiles, insects, turtles and fish used for educational purposes. Outside, there are eight native gardens to enjoy.
Three meeting rooms, the atrium and outdoor spaces are available for events. The Marshview Room, for up to 150, is equipped with a kitchenette, microphones, a projector, a screen and speakers. The Discovery Room, home to the facility’s education animals, can host groups of 40. The La Crosse Room accommodates 25. All rooms have Wi-Fi.
The entire building can accommodate 450, and the outdoor spaces, including the surrounding park, have handled events for up to 2,000 guests. The Nature Place allows groups to use their own caterer, but hard liquor is not allowed. Those that want to serve beer, wine, seltzers or ciders must rent the entire building.
The Florian Gardens Conference Center
Eau Claire
At Eau Claire’s Florian Gardens Conference Center, meetings bring the outdoors inside. All three of the ballrooms overlook beautiful gardens including the largest, the Rock Cress Garden and its 24-foot waterfall. Each garden has a pergola for ceremonies or live music.
Within the conference center’s 10,000 square feet of event space, state-of-the-art flexible walls keep sound from traveling between the ballrooms. The center has audio-visual and onsite technical assistance.
The Grand Trillium Ballroom can host 266 for a banquet or 465 theater style. The Primrose Ballroom can accommodate 146 for a banquet, and the Silverleaf Ballroom can host 112 for a banquet. Combined, the ballrooms seat 567 for a plated meal or buffet.
Catering staff offer varied menus, prepared in a 4,000-square-foot kitchen. During the pandemic, the facility added the Garden View Terrace, which overlooks gardens of spring trees and flowering blossoms. A bar in the foyer has two service windows and each can be staffed with up to three bartenders to keep drink lines moving.
The Automobile Gallery
Green Bay
William “Red” Lewis, owner of the PDQ Car Wash chain in northeast Wisconsin, had a passion for classic cars and wanted to share it, so he opened The Automobile Gallery in Green Bay. Close to 100 cars, most from his private collection, are displayed in a former Cadillac dealership he bought. The collection is always being refreshed as additional cars, some on loan and some donated, are displayed.
The facility has two event spaces and an executive boardroom on the second level overlooking cars in the main gallery. Its conference table can seat 18, and the room includes an 80-inch conference screen equipped with clickshare technology and overhead speakers.
The facility’s Haddad Event Center space, toward the back of the main gallery, can seat 160. The event center and gallery can be used in tandem and are served by a full catering kitchen and a full bar staffed by the facility’s bartenders. The venue works with several caterers, and event planners can bring in outside entertainment. Museum volunteers are on hand for events to answer any questions guests may have about the cars.
