Sandy Springs, Georgia
Though it’s only 20 minutes north of Atlanta, Sandy Springs, with its 11 city parks and 20 miles of river shoreline, feels a world away from the nearby metropolis. But with four rapid-transit stations, visitors can be in town in minutes.
Big draws for planners are the number and diversity of top hotel chains in Sandy Springs, which added two new hotels — the Homewood Suites by Hilton Atlanta/Perimeter Center and the Hawthorne Suites Sandy Springs/Perimeter Center — in 2015. Five more — the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North, the Wyndham Atlanta Galleria, the Sonesta ES Suites Atlanta Perimeter Center, the Fairfield Inn and Suites Atlanta Perimeter Center and the Hilton Atlanta Perimeter Suites — are either wrapping up or beginning renovations.
Though part of Sandy Springs lies in Perimeter Center, one of Atlanta’s largest business districts, it’s best known for its indoor-outdoor event spaces, particularly Heritage Sandy Springs, a park home to Sandy Springs’ original springs that includes a 3,000-square-foot ballroom and a 2-acre park for receptions. In the summer, groups can piggyback a day meeting with one of the events in the Concerts by the Springs series. On the Chattahoochee River, the two-story Huntcliff Riverclub clubhouse includes indoor river-view seating for a meeting of up to 110 or a meal for up to 128, and space for up to 50 on the patio.
North Little Rock, Arkansas
If you want to host a meeting pulling in attendees from all over the country, North Little Rock is a great place to look, with service to 334 destinations from the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, which is just six miles from downtown and served by six airlines: Allegiant, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, United and Glo.
For meeting space, North Little Rock, which does not have its own convention center, specializes in small, intimate venues. The main full-service hotel, the 220-room Wyndham Riverfront Little Rock, has more than 14,500 square feet of meeting space spread over 14 rooms, and the 119-room Hilton Garden Inn North Little Rock has 4,000 square feet of meeting space.
But the best way to take advantage of the city is with a more out-of-the-box meeting. The Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum has an indoor meeting room with space for up to 50 people, along with an outdoor reception space for up to 100, and the opportunity to tour a World War II submarine, the USS Razorback. For a boat tour on the river, the Mark Twain Riverboat can seat up to 70 inside. In town, the popular Argenta Community Theater can host groups of up to 300.
North Little Rock also has two day-use conference spaces: the Verizon Area, with four private meeting rooms totaling 28,000 square feet, and the 60,000-square-foot Patrick Henry Hays Senior Center.
Ontario, California
Long a major agricultural outpost beckoning settlers passing south on the train with its fertile farmland and plentiful water, Ontario, California, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, shining light on a city that has grown over the years into a special blend of California’s great outdoors and modern high-tech culture.
For meeting planners, some of Ontario’s biggest draws are its location and transportation options, said Sue Oxnart, director of communications for the Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“They’re happy to find out how centrally located we are for all of the amenities in southern California,” she said. “We’re lucky because we have our own international airport. Many refer to Ontario as southern California’s hub.” The airport is just half a mile from the convention center.
Ontario’s main meeting and event venue, the Ontario Convention Center, features 225,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 75,000-square-foot, column-free exhibition area. Larger groups can also take advantage of Ontario’s nearly 10,000-seat, 36-suite Citizens Business Bank Arena.
But one of the benefits of bringing a meeting to Ontario is taking advantage of its unusual, historic indoor-outdoor venues. The Graber Olive House, one of the oldest businesses in Ontario, dating back to 1894, includes event space for up to 150 in its historic garden. Groups can also tour the olive oil pressing and olive canning operations. Just outside the city at Cucamonga-Guasti Park, meeting groups can hold retreat workshops in between fishing excursions, barbecues and team-building activities in the park’s sustainability gardens, the Frontier Project.
