On April Fools’ Day, people flock to an annual pillow fight, by Tim Abraham, www.timabrahamphotography.com
A fun place to meet
Much of what has changed for the better in Eau Claire in the past 10 years has also made the city a better place to meet.
True, it still lacks a convention center, and many would like to see such a facility as part of downtown redevelopment. But seven conference hotels and another on the way have made the centrally located city a good option for small state and regional conferences. The area’s longstanding ties to agriculture and its newer appeal to small technology companies, as well as health care corporations, help create a demand for corporate meeting space.
A number of meetings, like Poeschel’s, are choosing the 107-room Metropolis Resort, south of town off Interstate 94 near state Highway 93.
At first glance, the “resort” might seem better suited to vacationing families. The locally devised and developed operation opened about a decade ago with a family entertainment center called Action City. Its focus was fun: go-karts, a climbing wall, laser tag and minigolf. It was followed by a water park.
Then, five years ago, came the features that turned all the fun into a resort and a meeting destination: the hotel with its restaurant, lounge and meeting space.
Almost immediately, the Metropolis began to surprise business guests. For one, its guest rooms are as mod as anything found in New York or Los Angeles. They are also varied; each is a little different from the other; different room types cater to different types of travelers, including families. “Our people were going through the halls to see what other members’ rooms looked like,” said Poeschel.
Because of the water park and Action City, a few of Poeschel’s attendees brought family members, and she expects to see more do so when the group returns to the Metropolis this summer. Those who brought family last year liked that they could peek behind the curtains that cover a wall of glass in the meeting room and check on their children in the water park below.
The hotel and Eau Claire were such a hit among Poeschel’s attendees that she expects attendance to rise significantly this year. “When we mentioned going elsewhere for this year’s meeting, they were almost vicious,” she said.
The president of the National Registry of Interpreters of the Deaf, a special guest at last year’s conference, also loved the site. “She told me she will come back to Eau Claire anytime we want,” said Poeschel.
Confluence Project is next step
If Poeschel and her attendees attend a concert at Phoenix Park this year, some might make their way over to Frogiyo, a frozen yogurt shop opened last spring in a new mixed-use development near the park. Owner Colleen Weber opened Frogiyo two and a half years after opening the Smiling Moose deli next door.
She took piles of research to Smiling Moose executives and convinced them to grant their first franchise outside of Colorado to her and a business partner. “I pitched small-town Eau Claire, Wis., to them.”
She was sold on the downtown resurgence that was kicked off by Phoenix Park; each year since the deli opened, she has seen increased foot traffic in the area because of the park, new downtown housing, expanding corporate offices and new businesses that are taking a chance on downtown.
Phoenix Park has become a gathering place, where festivals are held, where farmers sell produce and office workers go for respite. In addition to half a mile of river frontage, the park has a labyrinth, two plazas, a clock tower and many natural areas. It is also linked to the regional bike trail.
Even with the positive signs, downtown’s comeback is in its middle stages, Weber said.
The next big step is the Confluence Project, which will add a performing arts center (with meeting venues), high-end student housing for University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and retail and commercial space at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers near Phoenix Park.
The Confluence Project has many partners, including the university, arts groups, philanthropists, local government and local businesses. In March, a software company that was founded in Eau Claire pledged $500,000 to the project.
Like Phoenix Park, the Confluence Project ultimately will celebrate the city’s waterways, a goal voiced by Eau Claire citizens during a study done several years ago, according to John.
