Rocky Mountain meetings can take you to some amazing places. The region is full of one-of-a-kind meeting venues that are close to some of the country’s most loved national parks but also offer history, entertainment and culture. Consider some of these distinctive venues for your next event in the Rockies.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park takes meetings and corporate events to new heights. Guests ride a high-speed gondola up the mountain to the amusement park and caverns up top. The 10-minute ride gives visitors a panoramic view of the Roaring Fork Valley, Glenwood Springs, Mount Sopris and the Maroon Bells range in Aspen, Colorado. Thrill-seekers can ride the full-size roller coaster, the alpine slide or the terrifying giant swing that launches its passengers 1,300 feet above the Colorado River. Event organizers offer guests a lunch buffet for up to 250 people and a 40-minute walking tour of either the historic Fairy Cave, which opened to visitors in the 1880s, or the newer section of caverns, which opened to visitors in 1999.
The caves were formed by the same sulfur- and iron-rich waters that created Glenwood’s famous hot springs, making them some of the most colorful caves in the country. Event planners can choose what their guests will do at the top, from just riding the tram up to eat a meal to a cave tour and full-day adventure pass. One of the more popular team-building exercises is to take a hard-hat tour of the caves. Participants get to crawl through some of the tightest spaces in the caverns for sights not available to the average tourist. A restaurant and an outdoor seating area up top can handle small or large group meetings or meals.
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Event planners wanting to introduce their guests to New Mexico’s Native American cultures will love the adobe architecture and the culturally significant artifacts displayed at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Guests can not only visit the museum, which highlights the pottery, stories and artwork of the 19 living pueblos in New Mexico, but also take walking tours focused on the amazing murals painted in the courtyard of the center.
Minutes from downtown Albuquerque, the center first opened to the public in 1976. Its permanent exhibit, “We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story,” tells the history of the Native Americans who still call New Mexico home. With both indoor and outdoor banquet and meeting spaces, the cultural center can accommodate groups of up to 500 people. The center holds festivals and events throughout the year. It also offers classes on everything from how to make fry bread to how to grow a garden using the ancient technologies of pueblo farming. Native storytellers, dancers and flute players can give your event another perspective on pueblo traditions.
“The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is a great way to get your first introduction and understand what the pueblos and Native American communities have done for the state of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque,” said Brenna Moore, public relations and communications manager for Visit Albuquerque.
Chateau Event Center
Bozeman, Montana
Montana visitors expect to visit rustic event venues like barns and ranches. The Chateau Event Center bucks that trend. It was built in medieval French style with thick stucco walls, elaborate iron chandeliers and vaulted ceilings with wooden beams.
“We’re very unique for Montana,” said Keanan Ritchey, who manages the property with his wife, Whitney.
The property, built in 2009, sits on 40 acres about four miles from Bozeman and is under a conservation easement, meaning that most of it must remain undeveloped. Hyalite Creek meanders through it, and the Chateau is surrounded by cottonwood trees. It has both indoor and outdoor event spaces with spectacular views of the Spanish Peaks and the Gallatin Range. The Chateau got its start as a wedding venue, but the current managers of the property are working to expand its reach to individual and corporate events.
“Our family is well versed with the area, and we know all the favorite recreation destinations and guides that any corporate group would enjoy, be it team building, individual fun or group-specific recreation,” said Ritchey.
Its outdoor gardens, grassy spaces and flowering trees make a lovely spot for corporate and social events, with plenty of space for groups to play soccer, tetherball and other outdoor games. Bozeman is known for its outdoor sports, and the Chateau is within an hour of horseback riding, zip lining, fly-fishing, hiking and whitewater rafting.
Stueckle Sky Center
Boise, Idaho
Boise State University’s Albertsons Stadium is known nationwide for the bright blue turf on its football field. The Stueckle Sky Center, built above the stadium, offers event planners not only 360-degree views of Boise, Idaho, and the foothills but also amazing views of the field.
The stadium has featured blue turf since the idea was pitched in the 1980s.
“They ran with it,” said Rochelle Criswell, client relations manager for the Stueckle Sky Center. “We hold the rights to any colored turf in the United States. Anyone who wants to do that has to get approved through Boise State.”
The blue turf is a major attraction for event planners booking space in the four-level 131,000-square-foot Sky Center. The Double R Ranch Club, which seats up to 350 banquet guests or 450 in a theater configuration, features 30-foot ceilings and has floor-to-ceiling windows with great views of the blue turf. Planners who book the Double R Ranch room also get a tour of the field, if their event doesn’t conflict with a football game or practice. They are even allowed to play a pickup game of flag football on the field.
The Loft space, above the Double R, seats 100 to 150 people and is suitable for small meetings. The Skyline Room will seat up to 200 people banquet style and 300 people in a theater setup.
Fort Caspar Museum
Casper, Wyoming
Sample the Old West at Fort Caspar Museum in Casper, Wyoming. Platte Bridge Station, later renamed Fort Caspar, is in a section of Wyoming where the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer and Pony Express trails met back in the late 1800s. It was originally built in the 1860s to house cavalry sent to protect the Overland Mail Company and the Pacific Telegraph.
The fort now on the site was built in 1936 from detailed plans of the original 1864 structure drawn by Lt. Caspar Collins. Rick Young, museum manager at Fort Caspar, said the fort and the city of Casper are named for Collins, but the city misspelled his name.
The building is accurate and is furnished to look as it did in the late 1800s. Visitors tour the museum on their own, participate in re-enactments and even hold meetings and events at the fort. The facility has a multiuse room that can seat 120 people and a classroom that can hold up to 30 people. There are no kitchen facilities on-site, but the museum does allow food and drink in its meeting spaces. Meeting planners can rent the fort’s grounds and the adjacent Centennial and Fort Caspar parks.
