Meeting planners don’t have to stay in the Twin Cities to enjoy everything the state has to offer. These smaller Minnesota towns boast the same full-service amenities that the larger cities promote along with a hefty dose of outdoor adventure, entertainment, history, culture, and world-class shopping and dining.
Woodbury
Originally a farming community, Woodbury is a thriving suburb of St. Paul that has branded itself as a sports destination and a more affordable meeting destination than the Twin Cities. There are plenty of outdoor recreation opportunities, including an extensive trail system for hiking and biking that allows visitors to explore lakes, woodlands, wetlands and waterways.
Carver Lake Park and Beach features a swim beach, picnic areas and trails for hiking and biking. There are two golf courses in the area: the 18-hole Eagle Valley Golf Course and Prestwick Golf Club, which offers a par-72 championship course. Eagle Valley’s banquet room is a picturesque setting for seated meals for up to 140 guests or for smaller meetings.
M Health Fairview Sports Center is a hub for recreational sports, including hockey, soccer, lacrosse, baseball and football. The facility’s 90,000-square-foot field house can host larger groups as well as expos. There is an upper-level conference room and a lower-level multipurpose room that can accommodate smaller groups.
Central Park in downtown Woodbury is scheduled to reopen this fall after a multimillion-dollar renovation. The park will offer about 4,000 square feet of meeting space that can host up to 325 for a banquet. It will also have an outdoor amphitheater that can seat 175.
Woodbury has 1,035 hotel rooms. It is 17 miles from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and only a few miles from the Wisconsin border. Sheraton St. Paul Woodbury Hotel has 2,433 square feet of meeting space in five rooms. Courtyard St. Paul Woodbury has two meeting rooms with 3,315 square feet of space.
Mankato
About 75 miles south of Minneapolis, Mankato prides itself on its small-town charm and welcoming atmosphere. Located at the confluence of the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers, the city has a thriving arts community that includes beautiful murals and an extensive outdoor sculpture program. Mankato is also known for its silo art: a massive mural painted on the historic Ardent Mills silos that tells the story of greater Mankato.
Meeting groups can organize a walking sculpture tour or a public art tour to spot all the unique art projects that pepper the city. Minneopa State Park is another big draw, with its two-tiered waterfall, historic grist mill and bison herd.
The Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center is the largest conference venue in Mankato, with 70,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, 50,000 square feet of exhibit space, 15 meeting rooms and up to 25 meeting rooms in the City Center Campus. The Hilton Garden Inn Mankato Downtown offers 270 hotel rooms connected to the center via skyway.
The Venue has 12,000 square feet of space that can host 350 for a banquet. The facility offers fun team-building activities, such as duck-pin bowling, an on-site arcade and golf simulators.
Sky One Eleven is an event space that can host groups of up to 200 and offers 360-degree views of the city. It is located on the top floor of the Eide Bailly Tower in the heart of Mankato City Center. The Greater Mankato area currently has 1,156 hotel rooms and expects to have 550 to 650 more by 2027.
Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center
The Brooklyns — Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center — are two smaller, diverse cities about a 15-minute drive from downtown Minneapolis. Because of their diversity, they are famous for their mom-and-pop restaurants that feature food from a variety of cultures, including Chinese and Jamaican cuisine.
Minneapolis Marriott Northwest in Brooklyn Park is the largest venue in the area with 230 guest rooms and 62,203 square feet of flexible meeting space. The largest room can accommodate up to 800 guests. The facility has 34 breakout rooms.
Heritage Center Conference & Event Center in Brooklyn Center has 40,000 square feet of space. It used to be a prominent country estate and is now an event venue that can host groups of up to 1,000 in its indoor and outdoor spaces. The Courtyard can host picnics, expos and receptions for up to 3,000 guests. The Carriage Hall is a column-free space that can accommodate up to 1,200. The Garden City Ballroom can host 330 for a banquet and offers a private patio and Courtyard access.
Embassy Suites by Hilton Minneapolis North is adjacent to the Heritage Center and offers 175 guest rooms and 3,236 square feet of event space. Leopold’s Mississippi Gardens Event Center sits on the Mississippi River in Brooklyn Park. It features a 5,062-square-foot ballroom with a river view that can host 260 in theater-style seating.
For fun, meeting groups can purchase tickets to a Minnesota Twins or Minnesota Vikings game or book a round of golf at Edinburgh USA golf course. Topgolf and the Skaalvenn Distillery & Cocktail Bar also make great off-site venues.
Maple Grove
Maple Grove is conveniently located near several main arteries that run out of Minneapolis and travel north to the lake country of Minnesota. It is close enough to the Twin Cities and St. Cloud that attendees can take advantage of everything those cities have to offer in the way of culture and entertainment. The city is known for its extensive restaurant scene and for having the second-largest retail footprint in Minnesota, behind Mall of America.
Maple Grove has 10 hotel properties with meeting space, including Cambria Suites with 2,500 square feet and Holiday Inn & Suites Arbor Lakes with 1,900 square feet of meeting space.
Maple Grove Community Center can accommodate up to 250 in its banquet room and has event spaces that can serve smaller groups.
Central Park has a pavilion and open space that can be rented to groups, and Rush Creek Golf Course can host up to 300 with multiple breakout rooms.
For fun, Maple Grove has several entertainment options that work well for groups, including Pints & Paddle, a taproom, kitchen and pickleball facility with 10 indoor courts, and WhirlyBall Twin Cities, which combines bumper cars, basketball and jai alai for a competitive team-building experience.
Elm Creek Park Reserve has walking, biking and hiking trails. In winter, it offers snowboarding, cross-country skiing and tubing. There are also multiple lakes nearby for boating and fishing.
St. Cloud
St. Cloud owes some of its premier attractions to its history in granite mining. The Ledge Amphitheater is an outdoor concert venue that can accommodate 6,000 guests. It was built between two former granite quarries in Waite Park and is known to attract big-name acts.
Quarry Park & Nature Preserve sits on 360 acres with multiple quarry sites located within that serve as rock-climbing destinations and swimming holes. There are hiking and biking trails throughout, and visitors can fish and even scuba dive. In the winter, the area attracts cross-country skiers and snowshoers.
River’s Edge Convention Center in downtown St. Cloud overlooks the Mississippi River. It features 150,000 square feet and offers access to outdoor event spaces. It is connected to a 229-room Best Western, which can host up to 450 guests for an event, and a Courtyard by Marriott that has 103 rooms and 2,800 square feet of event space.
The Park Event Center in the Waite Park area offers 18,171 square feet of event space for up to 800 guests. It is connected to a 100-room Residence Inn by Marriott and a 99-room Hilton Garden Inn. It can be paired with The Ledge Amphitheater for unique evening events.
Harvester Square can accommodate up to 400 guests, and Iron Street Distillery can host groups of up to 200. Three universities in town also offer event spaces, and Munsinger and Clemens Gardens right off the Mississippi River makes a nice off-site event venue.
