Rutherford County
Despite having more than a quarter-million people within its borders, Rutherford County maintains its small-town Tennessee feel while offering brand new amenities. Rutherford’s main meeting and event space is the 283-room Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, with more than 43,000 square feet of meeting space. Located nearby are the 100-room Hilton Garden Inn, a 112-room Residence Inn and the 86-room Holiday Inn Express Murfreesboro.
But beyond a healthy amount of meeting space and a good number of lodging units close by, Rutherford County’s conference center also offers a downtown setting with top-of-the-line shopping within walking distance thanks to The Avenue.
“It’s right next door, and it’s Tennessee’s largest open-air shopping and dining area,” said Donna Klempnow, director of convention sales for the Rutherford County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s really nice for groups to walk over and have drinks or hors d’oeuvres before dinner, or for spouse tours during larger conventions.”
To step back in time after a day of modern meeting facilities, the CVB can arrange a walking tour of Murfreesboro’s historic downtown, home to a courthouse that dates back to the 1850s; the Stones River National Battlefield, the site of one of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles; or Cannonsburg Village, a living-history museum that showcases life in Tennessee in the 1880s. For an off-site meeting or reception, Klempnow recommends the Oaklands Historic House Museum.
Jackson
Many parts of Tennessee are within a day’s drive of 70 percent of the population of the United States, and located between many of Tennessee’s best features, Jackson occupies a unique position in the state.
“We’re halfway between Nashville and Memphis, with the Shiloh Military Park to the south and the world-class Discovery Park of America to the north,” said Lori Nunnery, executive director of the Jackson Tennessee Convention and Visitors Bureau. “And even though the county has a population of 100,000 — so you can get city amenities — as soon as you leave the heart of Jackson, you’re in the country.”
The proximity of town and country gives rise to many of Jackson’s top activities for visiting groups. Jackson’s fall color is white, thanks to October’s seas of cotton blooms. The CVB partners with local cotton gins to provide hands-on activities and tours for groups. It has also developed special programs for visiting groups with the local University of Tennessee Agricultural Research and Education Center, one of only three such centers in the state.
Jackson’s primary meeting venue is the Carl Perkins Civic Center, with theater seating for up to 2,200 along with options for smaller breakout spaces. The 167-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Jackson provides an additional 6,400 square feet of meeting space.
Manchester
Though perhaps best known as the home of the Bonnaroo Music Festival, an annual multigenre summer event that features acts like Elton John, Tom Petty, Metallica and ZZ Top and draws more than 80,000 visitors, Manchester, Tennessee, spends most of the year as a quiet town of 10,000 welcoming corporate and association groups that are looking for a meeting site between Chattanooga and Nashville.
The Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center is the city’s primary meetings and event venue, with more than 13,000 square feet of meeting space that can be broken out into eight rooms and on-site culinary possibilities you wouldn’t expect for a town of Manchester’s size.
“A lot of folks come looking for Southern cuisine, but one of the things that makes us so unique is our diversity,” said general manager Alyce Heifner. “The chefs can even do sushi rolled by hand.”
The Holiday Inn Express and Suites Manchester, attached to the conference center, has a 4,680-square-foot ballroom. Just outside of town, the Beans Creek Winery has an atmospheric indoor event room complete with hardwood floors and a fireplace for up to 25 people and a lawn for up to 200 when weather allows.
One of the biggest draws of holding a meeting in Manchester is the opportunity for unusual activities and team-building events sprinkled throughout a group’s agenda. Rangers at Old Stone Fort State Park, thought to have been settled by Native Americans 2,000 years ago, can lead birding tours and hikes. The 35-year-old Foothills Crafts workshop, part of the Coffee County Craft Association, works with 100 artists who can do demonstrations of crafts from woodworking to metallurgy to fiber arts.
