INSIGHTS WITH VICKIE MITCHELL
FORGING AHEAD
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s I drive through downtown Lexington, Kentucky, my hometown, I’m reminded that everything didn’t grind to a halt during the pandemic. Next to our basketball palace, Rupp Arena, an improved convention center has been taking shape slowly over the past year. Along Vine Street, workers stack limestone walls along the newly paved pathways of a linear park that will course more than a mile through downtown from the convention complex to city parks. Lexington’s a good example of a midsize city that is forging ahead with its plans or even making ambitious new ones. It’s a strategy that makes sense; many expect that travelers and meeting attendees alike will seek smaller, less congested cities and towns as they venture out and begin to gather in person again. Here’s an update from five smaller cities and regions around the country.
These destinations have made the most of their downtime
Slip out of Chicago and into south suburbs
Photos courtesy Chicago Southland CVB; Big Cedar Lodge; Green Bay CVB
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Everyone still loves Chicago, but small groups would do well to shift to its suburbs. For example, south of the city, in a collection of suburbs marketed as Chicago Southland, meeting venues include the Tinley Park Convention Center with 70,000 square feet of meeting space. It’s attached to the Even Hotel Tinley Park Convention Center, recently improved with a $10 million renovation. The first Even Hotel in Illinois, the Tinley Park property gives guests space to spread out, with a gym three times larger than a typical hotel gym and a gastropub with lots of outdoor seating. These suburbs also have ample outdoor escapes: nature preserves, a reservoir, a nature center and a botanic garden. To help visitors enjoy the open spaces and fresh air, Chicago Southland’s CVB recently launched a free trails app that includes a map, trail names, surface types, distances and trail difficulty. visitchicagosouthland.com
www.smallmarketmeetings.com
