Any city with a hometown college or university also has its own fountain of youth: an ever-present student population that infuses the community with youthful vitality, cutting-edge ideas and au courant trends.
“That’s the great thing about college towns; they always seem to re-energize people and make them feel connected to what’s current,” said Erin Erdmann, director of convention sales for Visit Bloomington.
These Indiana cities are known for their universities and the perks that come with them: on-campus meeting space, diverse populations and a wellspring of experts willing to speak to groups.
Bloomington
You don’t have to be a student to appreciate Indiana University Bloomington’s parklike campus where a stream meanders through wooded acres and the 1909 limestone, Tudor-style Indiana Memorial Union looks straight off a movie set. The Union houses the 180-room Biddle Hotel and about 15 event rooms in addition to the student union — all under one roof. Function space ranges from a 10-person boardroom to the 5,000-square-foot Alumni Hall and a 400-seat auditorium.
On College Avenue in the heart of downtown, the Bloomington Monroe County Convention Center is located in a former Ford assembly factory and showroom. Today, the renovated 1923 building has 24,000 square feet of flexible function space, the largest of which is a 2,600-square-foot room. The center is a short walk from downtown restaurants, bars and other venues, and one block from the B-Line Trail, a former railroad line that is now a three-mile “linear park” dotted with public art, Erdmann said. One block over, WonderLab Museum of Science offers space for dining or presentations, an outdoor garden and two stories of hands-on exhibits, such as the Bubble-Airium. FARMbloomington is a farm-to-table restaurant in a historic building that rents out its underground speakeasy, Root Cellar, for events.
South Bend
The University of Notre Dame may have more name recognition than its hometown city of South Bend, but both provide plenty of meeting spaces. The Morris Inn reopened in 2013 after a $30 million renovation and expansion that brought its total number of guest rooms and suites to 150 and added a ballroom. Across Notre Dame Avenue, the IACC-certified Notre Dame Conference Center at McKenna Hall offers planners 20,000 square feet that includes 12 seminar rooms and a 300-seat auditorium, all just 500 yards from the famous Fighting Irish stadium.
Off the famed campus, the Century Center in downtown is an art museum, a performing arts center and a convention center. The main level is home to the South Bend Museum of Art, the 694-seat Bendix Theater, the 25,000-square-foot Convention Hall and a 12,000-square-foot ballroom that can be divided. On the lower level, floor-to-ceiling glass walls flood the 16,000-square-foot Great Hall with views of the St. Joseph River where, in the middle of the water, the dramatic Island Park Pavilion is also available for events.
Lafayette/West Lafayette
Purdue University earned the moniker “Cradle of Astronauts” because it has graduated a slew of astronauts, including the most famous: Neil Armstrong. But the university’s presence means there’s a diverse population in town and “there’s always something going on, a festival or entertainment, that meeting planners can draw on,” said Ashley Gregory, director of sales for Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette. Purdue professors also often speak at events for free.
Purdue Conferences can help plan on-campus events for up to 6,000 people. Stewart Center is the school’s conference facility, with 23 meeting rooms ranging from 900 to 2,900 square feet as well as two auditoriums that can seat 400 and 1,000 people. The Purdue Memorial Union offers more than a dozen meetings rooms, two ballrooms and the full-service Union Club Hotel. Ross-Ade Pavilion overlooks the football field in Ross-Ade Stadium and can host seated dinners for up to 400. For large events, Elliott Hall of Music can seat up to 6,000, and the Slayter Center is an outdoor amphitheater for up to 20,000 people.
The 122-room Courtyard by Marriott in Lafayette expanded in fall 2015, adding 32 guest rooms and building a 5,500-square-foot conference center with a 3,700-square-foot ballroom and an 8,000-square-foot outdoor patio. The 171-room Four Points by Sheraton in West Lafayette has 14 flexible meeting rooms totaling 13,500 square feet, and the 147-room Holiday Inn Lafayette-City Centre has nearly 7,500 square feet of conference space.
Evansville
Evansville doesn’t have a university. It has two: the University of Evansville, a small private school, and the University of Southern Indiana, a public university just outside the city. At USI, the 100,000-square-foot University Center is both the heart of student life and the school’s primary conference facility. The 6,970-square-foot Carter Ballroom can be split into three smaller spaces, and groups can reserve several meeting rooms or Traditions Lounge. On campus, several classrooms, auditoriums and lecture halls are also available.
In downtown, Indiana University is building its new medical school and research center, a $61 million project slated to open by spring 2018. The project is helping to drive downtown investment, such as a new 240-room DoubleTree convention hotel due to open by year’s end with 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, said Laura Libs, director of marketing and communications for the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau. The hotel will connect to both the 11,000-person Ford Center arena and the 280,000-square-foot Old National Events Plaza, which is Evansville’s convention center.
