t’s like a whole other country.” That’s what they say about Tex- as, and nothing could be closer to
the truth. The size of a small nation, Texas has so many distinct regions and cities that planners are bound to find whatever they are looking for in a meeting destination, from convention facilities to attractions. A region-by-region look at the Lone Star State tells the story.
PRAIRIES & LAKES The 47,000-square-mile Prairies & Lakes region covers a large portion of northeast and central Texas, from the Oklahoma border south through the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Waco, and Bryan–College Station. The name fits: The region includes many large lakes, four of which — Lake Whitney, Lake Somerville, Ray Roberts Lake, and Fairfield Lake — have state parks along their shores. Just as Texas features a diversity of des-
tinations, Dallas — one of the largest cities in the United States, and the biggest in the Prairies & Lakes region — is home to an ex- traordinarily wide range of diversions. The largest urban arts district in the nation, the best shopping in the Southwest, a thriving culinary scene, 13 entertainment districts, five professional sports teams, and 200 golf courses are all found in the “Big D.” The recently expanded Dallas Con-
vention Center provides more than one million square feet of meeting and exhibit space, making it a great fit for large and small groups alike. Accommodations abound in more than 73,000 hotel rooms. The arts are also very much alive in
Fort Worth, but so is a culture of another type — cowboy culture. Fort Worth is known as the “City of Cowboys and Cul-
4 convene
ture,” and visitors flock to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Kimbell Art Museum, and their ilk as well as the National Cowgirl Museum and the Stock- yards National Historic District, home to such unique attractions as the Fort Worth Herd daily cattle drive. For drives of another kind, Fort Worth is home to the Texas Motor Speedway, one of the premier tracks in auto racing. The Fort Worth Convention Center — featuring 253,226 square feet of exhibit space, 41 breakout rooms, a 28,160-square-foot ballroom, and a 13,500-seat arena — is close to Sundance
cause Grapevine is home to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the third- largest airport in the world. With nonstop flights to 160 cities across the globe and nearly 2,000 flights daily, Grapevine is connected to all major cities throughout the United States. For meetings, the newly renovated, 23,500-square-foot Grapevine Convention Center offers a high degree of flexibility. Grapevine also accommodates groups in 800,000 square feet of meeting space distributed among the majority of its 19 hotels, as well as at such distinctive off- site venues as the Palace Arts Center. Planners might also want to consider
Fort Worth Stockyards
Square, a 35-block commercial, residen- tial, entertainment, and retail district. Midway between Dallas and Fort Worth,
planners will discover Grapevine, which has served as a trendsetter and leader with award-winning wineries. Many winery tast- ing rooms are open to the public. And take a sip of this: A $12-million LEGOLAND Discovery Centre opens in April at the Grapevine Mills shopping mall, and a SEA LIFE Aquarium will debut this summer. Getting to Grapevine — and Dallas and Fort Worth, for that matter — is easy, be-
booking a meeting in Arlington, where the new $1.2-billion Cowboys Stadium has made its debut with more than 22 meeting areas for groups. Arlington’s tagline is “And The Crowd Goes Wild” — an apt slogan given the cadre of attractions topped by two theme parks, Six Flags Over Texas and Hurricane Harbor. Arlington is the home of the Texas Rangers baseball team, now headquartered at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The relocation of the Dallas Cowboys NFL team to Cowboys Stadium has brought high-profile sporting events to Arlington, including Super Bowl XLV in 2011 and the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. For shoppers, Arlington offers The Parks
Mall at Arlington, which houses numer- ous retail outlets and a movie theater. The Arlington Highlands, an entertainment hotspot completed in mid-2007, wows visitors with such venues as the Studio Movie Grill, Piranha Killer Sushi, Splits- ville, BJ’s Brewhouse, The Improv Theatre, Blackfinn, Plucker’s, and World Market, among others. Theatre Arlington, one of the largest community theaters in the nation,