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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Southern After Hours

Muhammad Ali Center

Louisville, Kentucky

Muhammad Ali lived his life according to six core principles: dedication, confidence, spirituality, conviction, respect and giving. At the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, after visitors exit the orientation theater, they enter exhibit pavilions dedicated to each of those six core principles. Throughout other exhibits, visitors learn about Ali’s “Red Bike Moment” – the pivotal moment that steered him to boxing — and can try shadowboxing with the Champ himself in Ali’s re-created training camp exhibit.

During after-hours events, the center can keep exhibits open for attendees for an additional fee, and guided tours can be arranged through the center’s education department, said Morgan Boone, special events and sales coordinator. The center also has a scavenger hunt that can be customized to tie into an event’s theme.

The 6,700-square-foot View Pointe Hall on the sixth — and top — floor is the center’s main event space and has floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the Ohio River. The room can seat up to 400 at rounds or up to 500 for receptions and comes with the 1,225-square-foot outdoor Torch Terrace. The hall can also be broken into a smaller space, View Pointe North, with 2,500 square feet.

Other spaces are the 1,600-square-foot LeRoy Neiman Gallery and the auditorium, which has 158 stadium-style theater seats that can be retracted to create an open floor space for up to 120 guests seated at round tables. The 3,200-square-foot main lobby is available only for after-hours events, and the impressive architectural ceiling feature is inspired by Ali’s torch lighting in the 1996 Olympics.

www.alicenter.org

American Rose Center

Shreveport, Louisiana

At the gardens of the American Rose Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, meeting attendees can stop and smell the roses on the center’s 20,000 rosebushes in 65 gardens.

The center has two main buildings: One houses the administrative offices of the American Rose Society, and the other is the events center. There, groups can use the 3,200-square-foot event rooms for daytime meetings or evening events, said event coordinator Lou Kerr.

From the event room, guests can access the adjoining 600-square-foot covered terrace off the back of the events building. Straight down from the terrace is a large reflection pool area that doubles as another function space. To the right of the terrace is the David Austin Garden for receptions, where groups will be surrounded by David Austin Roses.

“We have 118 acres of rose gardens; plus, we have these beautiful trees, so we’re pretty year-round,” Kerr said.

Rose season runs April through October, and peak blooming seasons are mid- to late May and mid-September to mid-October. And although there aren’t any roses in the winter, the gardens sparkle with lights during Christmas in Roseland season.

In addition to several garden event spaces, people can also use an on-site chapel that can hold 140 people for gatherings or receptions.

Planners can incorporate guided tours of the gardens for attendees to learn about the care and cultivation of roses. During the All About the Roses experience, groups can tour the grounds, including the test gardens and the horizon garden, which showcases some of the newest roses; the tour can be followed by a group tasting of rose teas and jellies.

www.rose.org