the heart of the city. Walk out the center’s east doors and you’re now directly linked to Charleston’s premier retail section; its main shopping mall, Charleston Town Center. This in turn feeds into nearby hotels and restaurants, banks and merchants’ businesses. Indeed, the Civic Center is the city’s economic heart as much as its physical one.
John takes me to an overlook within the Coliseum arena and I hear Garth Brooks’ band begin their twangy sound checks, and I soon real- ize how Country and Appalachian-roots music is slowly forming the background soundtrack of this journey.
If the Civic Center is a snapshot of spatial expansion in Charleston, then the Clay Center showcases internal innovations within this bur- geoning city. The Clay Center is an amalgamation of ingenuities: an investment in hands-on education for children via the venue’s interac- tive exhibits (the Climbing Sculpture, for one, is just that – a climbable work of art); a 3-D planetarium; an art gallery and a science center; a 1,900-seat performance hall with flawless acoustics (Mountain Stage is held here on occasions), and the Clay Center holds one of the city’s most stunning event spaces - The Deco-style Grand Lobby, which is flanked by two sweeping staircases (either of which is perfect for any grand entrance).
It’s check-in time. Rendering of the expansion of the
Charleston Civic Center Coliseum photo courtesy of Visit Charleston, WV
Charleston’s lodging options are plentiful if not modest, with the Marriott Town Center being the largest game in town at 352 rooms. A few blocks east is the Sheraton Four Points (176 rooms/24 suites). It’s clean, modern and centrally-located. I find the property offering easy access to points-everywhere throughout the city, and the complimen- tary shuttle (even to the airport) is a plus.
Mid-Atlantic EVENTS Magazine 67
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