Smart Meetings

The one-time presence of these inhabitants of the Valley would be marked by impressive ruins of structures and ceremonial game courts, as well as traces of great waterworks. The backdrop would be rugged, unfamiliar scenery with exotic plants and animals. It would be unlike anything you’d find at home. You’d need your passport to visit.
But it’s Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale, and so you don’t. Yet nearly everything else holds true.
Phoenix’s prehistoric canal builders, the Hohokam Indians, laid the routes over hundreds of miles, establishing the base for systems that sustained homesteading farmers centuries later.
Those prehistoric builders also left structures so mysteriously impressive that the Casa Grande Ruins to the south became the nation’s first
archeological preserve. Downtown Phoenix’s
high rises are a modern reflection of sorts.
The remains of Hohokam ball courts have
suggested ceremonial games where several communities came together. The Valley today is
home to NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams.
By A.D. 1450, the Hohokam people had
vanished. But looking over the unpromising
little settlement on the banks of the Salt River in
1860, one of the more optimistic pioneers suggested calling it Phoenix, predicting that a great city would arise from the ancient Hohokam ruins
like the mythical bird that rose from its own
ashes every 500 years…in other words, by
around 1950. Pretty good prediction.
In the 56 years since then, the peoples of this Valley of the Sun have bundled up the rolling tumbleweeds, poured concrete and prospered. More than 3.3 million call the 2,000-square-mile metro area of 22 communities home. Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the nation, comprising the urban core around which Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Carefree, Fountain Hills and Fort McDowell have notably thrived to the northeast; Tempe, Mesa and Chandler have filled out to the east; and Casa Grande, with its nearby preserve, has developed to the south.
In the mix of the Valley’s riches, there’s about every type of recreation, except maybe ocean racing and bobsledding, to be found. The Valley is favored with gorgeous sunlit days, especially when much of the rest of the country is damply miserable. There’s also a died-and-gone-to-heaven array of sumptuous resorts and their award-winning spas, plus a different golf course to play nearly every nonholiday weekday of the year. Should one just wish to simply spectate: Welcome to the Cactus League, where nine MLB teams from other communities like San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, etc. stay for spring training and sharpen their skills against each other.
Oh, and lastly, about the aforementioned exotic flora and fauna: not many of you have a giant saguaro thriving like a native in your backyard, do you? On second thought, maybe you should get out that passport, after all.

PHOENIX t
In its blend of urban delights and immediate access to nature, Phoenix is a kind of oasis for meeting attendees, according to Doug MacKenzie, director of communications for the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau (visitphoenix.com). He speaks enticingly of escape. “They can escape for a walk or horseback ride in the desert. They can escape to the pool or to the world-class spas at many of the resorts.”
And for those would-be Houdinis, escape hatches even operate in the warmer, summer value season. Then, it’s a matter of being outdoors at the beginning or end of the day and scheduling the meetings in between.
Another place to scoot out and about is Copper Square in the heart of downtown. It’s home to more than 95 unique restaurants and bars, as well as numerous shops and museums. Incidentally, the addition of 1,200 new housing units in and around the Square will ensure a 24/7 vibrancy within walking distance of the Phoenix Convention Center (phoenix.gov/ phxplaza)
and the 1,000-room Sheraton that’s scheduled
to open in 2009.
Phoenix’s South Mountain Park (phoenix.-gov/parks), covering more than 20,000 acres, is the largest urban park in the world; it’s another
of the escape options McKenzie has in mind.
The city’s cultural scene is richly colored by the traditions and artifacts of the indigenous peoples, mixed with the rodeos and music of cowboy culture. The world-renowned Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art (heard.org) showcases its extraordinary collection in 10 galleries augmented by the museum’s romantic fountain-filled courtyards, which make a charming setting for an event. The Pueblo Grande Museum (phoenix.gov/ PARKS/pueblo) preserves the 1,500-year-old ruins of a Hohokam village on 102 acres, including an excavated ball court, full-scale reproductions of Hohokam homes and some of the last intact Hohokam irrigation canals.
The vibrant contemporary art scene is especially evident on the First Fridays (1stfridaysphoe- nix.com) art walks, including artists’ studio visits. Groups at the new Phoenix Convention Center addition, opened at the end of June, will see a 90-foot art mirror by Louise Bourgeois provocatively entitled “Art is a Guarantee of Sanity.”

Other Intriguing Spots in Phoenix
The 1929 Orpheum Theatre (theaterleague.com), with its sunset-to-starry-night sky over 1,400 seats, is a standout for presentations. A recent $14-million restoration brought all systems to state-of-the-art service. Opened in August, Cardinals Stadium (azcardinals.com) is slated to host the Super Bowl in 2008. The Desert Botanical Garden (desertbotanical.org) allows events amid the world’s largest collection of desert plants. Also, don’t miss the opportunity to take your group to a Western barbecue outside of the city. “You’ll get a flavor of the desert,” says McKenzie, “and there will be campfire stories to go along with good old-fashioned food,” served up with a wonderful memory. For the full Old West experience, head to Wickenburg in North Phoenix for a stay at the historic Rancho de los Caballeros. It’s cushy, though; with the reopening this month for their 59th season, there’s a new spa to go with the golf course and conference facilities.

SCOTTSDALE t
Just east and slighty north of Phoenix, Scottsdale has made its reputation as a Southwest art capital and home to some of the most highly honored resorts, spas, restaurants and golf courses in the nation. Not many communities’ CVBs put out their own 76-page resource guide to the cultural scene in town twice a year, in this case produced in partnership with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. This is in addition to their 188-page destination guide.
Dan Tavrytzky, vice president of sales and services for the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (meetinscottsdale.com) enthuses: “I just got back from Boston; every time I get back home, it hits me how I love the wide open spaces, the views of the mountains, the desert, the clean, crisp adventure that surrounds you.” It’s a striking contrast to the claustrophobic feeling he admits to getting elsewhere.
“I think what Scottsdale offers is a very unique setting that intermingles the resort aspect with the fabulous entertainment, the galleries and the restaurants found right in town,” he says. “Our restaurant scene has really grown, and the same things that I appreciate so much here have also brought in some phenomenal chefs, who want to set up shop.”
Further commenting on the area’s makeup, Tavrytzky remarks: “We really have two different parts to Scottsdale. On one hand, there’s the downtown area, where you can walk to attractions like the Scottsdale Waterfront, a venue with a park-like setting, outdoor artwork, sidewalk cafés and unique boutiques, an amphitheater and the canal, where people will gather.” This is in addition to the array of art galleries and boutiques clustered in Old Town Scottsdale. Meeting attendees only have to jump on a local trolley and go out around town to absorb
the culture.
“The other side of Scottsdale is all the resort area,” Tavrytzky continues. “One of the things we’re working on now is the Desert Discovery Center; it’s a way we hope to get visitors to experience the true desert.” (It’s proposed to be 20,000 acres of desert.)
And there are the resorts. “We really are a locus of resorts that have world-class golf and world-class spas;
people will travel far distances to experience the best.”
Scottsdale has an especially attractive new retail and dining complex, the Kierland Commons (kierlandcommons.com), which recently opened next door to The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.

SCOTTSDALE EXTRAS
Meeting professionals can rent fabulous homes for really unique events. “We did a party for 50 to 75 in one of these homes recently,’’ Tavrytzky says. “The home was built among the boulders on land sacred to Native American history. There were petroglyphs in the rocks (bellapalazzo.net). There’s also the Bentley Gallery (bentleygallery.com), where you’re surrounded by Native American tapestries and Columbian artworks.”
Scottsdale’s CVB also represents the neighboring communities of Paradise Valley, Carefree and Fountain Hills. Just west of Scottsdale, the exclusive resort community of Paradise Valley (paradisevalleyaz.gov) is surrounded by the aptly named Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak Recreation Area (phoenix.gov/parks/hikephx). Likewise, Carefree (carefree-cavecreek.com) is settled in the shadow of Camelback Mountain
with a cluster of fine resort properties.
Fountain Hills (fountainhillschamber.com), just north of Scottsdale and bordering the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, is set in the McDowell Mountain foothills. The town takes
its name from a 560-foot-high fountain, said to be one of the world’s highest. Here, at Fort McDowell, groups can experience an authentic Mexican fiesta, complete with lively mariachi music, at La Puesta del Sol. Also nearby is Fort McDowell Adventures (fortmcdowelladventures.com), an event facility that includes cattle drives followed by outdoor barbecues. For a little gaming, Fort McDowell Casino (fortmcdowellcasino.com) operates 475 slot machines, as well as keno, bingo, cards and off-track betting.

TEMPE t
Tempe is literally four miles from Sky Harbor airport, reports Katee Blaushild, CMP, and director of sales for the Tempe Convention & Visitors Bureau (tempecvb.com). So it’s 5–10 minutes to downtown, or 10–15 to get to all the different points of interest within Tempe. Almost all of the city’s hotel properties include airport transfers because of the proximity.
Further, it’s the place for a Generation Y gathering, as some 30,000 residents are the students at the Arizona State University campus.
However, Tempe, with a population of 187,000, is no random suburb, according to Blaushild. “We have about six square blocks with more than 100 restaurants, nightclubs and stores within those six blocks.” Another cluster is the Mill Avenue District (downtowntempe.com), with more than 50 stores and 65 restaurants, cafés and taverns to peruse.
Entertainment in Tempe is amped up and hip. “It’s a university town, with nightclubs, so you get that vibrancy in the evening,” says Blaushild.
The 220-acre Tempe Town Lake is a major draw for the area. You can make arrangements for a catered dinner cruise on the two-mile-long lake.
Blaushild recommends that groups go on one of the university’s “sneaker tours” highlighting the arts museum, or the arts areas. Starting in October, they run about eight or ten of these. Or take your group to a Broadway show at ASU’s Gammage Theater (pbase.com/az leader/gammage), one of the last buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

MESA t
Mesa is located about 20 miles due east from the airport. As you’re approaching the city, you’re looking right into the beautiful—some say the most beautiful—Superstition Mountains.
Mesa is unique among cities in the Phoenix Metropolitan area, according to Rick Elder, manager of communications, and Milt Fort, director of sales and marketing for the Mesa Arizona Convention and Visitors Bureau (visitmesa.com). “It’s bigger than Miami, Minneapolis, Pittsburg and Atlanta,” Elder asserts, “and it offers the comforts of a big city, but it’s located next to the Tonto National Forest with the best of outdoor adventure.’’
As soon as you get past the city limits, the Superstition Mountains are right there, according to Elder. “If you’re meeting in Mesa, you’re close to jeep tours and hiking treks, mountain biking, trailrides, hayrides, cattle drives, and breakfast and dinner campfire cookouts,” he says.
For larger meetings, Mesa has the Mesa Convention Center (cityofmesa.org/cencntr), which has 15,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 25,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The outdoor 4,200-seat Amphitheater is part of the complex.
The city’s true pride, however, is the year-old Mesa Arts Center (mesaconventioncenter.com), the crown jewel of arts and entertainment in Arizona. It’s the largest municipal arts center in the entire southwest. It offers internationally known performing artists, as well as a regular schedule of touring Broadway shows. The center will take groups in one of its four theaters—the largest seating 1,600 and the smallest seating 200—according to Milt Fort, depending on the center’s performance calendar.

NO EXCUSE FOR NOT HAVING FUN IN MESA
The Salt River runs through Mesa; you can go tubing and fishing. By taking the Apache Trail into the Superstition Mountains, on one of the Apache Trail Jeep Tours (americansouthwest.net-/Arizona/apache_trail) vehicles, you can tour one of 50 old mines. “Apache Trail Jeep Tours are unique,” says the CVB’s Elder. “They can go into the Forest Service lands and they can take you places where others cannot.”
Elder additionally advises that you can go farther up the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flat (tortillaflataz.com), an old stagecoach stop that boasts a population of six. You can go to Goldfield Ghost Town and Mine Tour (goldfieldghosttown.com). You might take your group aboard the Desert Belle Paddleboat (saguarolake.net) that recalls the era of Mark Twain.
Members of your group can experience a ride in the Commemorative Air Force Museum’s Sentimental Journey (arizonawingcaf.org), the most authentically restored flying B-17 in the world. There are some 20 authentic WW II warplanes on display along with the Journey.
And for a pure, unadulterated thrill-to-the-max aloft, you can send your group’s top performers to fly a plane, even if it’s the first time, at Fighter Combat International (fightercombat.com). “I never thought I would get an hour of instruction and then go fly an airplane,” declares Elder. “You get into the front cockpit and you get into the air and you take over. You can do flips; you can get into a dog fight with another airplane. I’m glad I did it, but I don’t like heights—I don’t even like being this tall! Yet, it’s really exciting.” And, in case you’re wondering, he assures us, “There’s never been a crash.”
Back on earth, Barleen’s Arizona Opry Dinner Show (azopry.com) features a roast beef dinner followed by a stage show of comedy, singing and outstanding musicianship. “There’s a guy who plays 63 instruments, 40 of them onstage,” says Elder.    
Also supporting the Western ambience is the Rockin’ R Ranch (rockinr.net). It’s a 30-year-old replica western town. “A guy will get up there and tell you the history of the fast draw,” explains Elder, “and they’ll play some really weird musical instruments.”
Even with all this to offer, Mesa bills itself as the “More Affordable Meeting Place.”

CHANDLER t
Chandler lies about 19 miles southwest of Phoenix’s airport and downtown Phoenix. Rawhide at Wild Horse Pass (rawhide.com) in Chandler is an authentic replica of an 1880 frontier town and steakhouse, and can accommodate 50 to 50,000 guests (or a small city), for entertainment and dancing. Also at Wild Horse Pass is the gaming action of the Gila River Casino (wingilariver.com). The 1.3-million-square-foot Chandler Fashion Center has 180 shops and is located near the area’s San Marcos Golf & Conference Resort.

CASA GRANDE t
Founded in 1879, Casa Grande has 35,000 year-round residents and, at 45 minutes’ drive from the airport, is about half way between Phoenix and Tucson. The major Hohokam Indian site, called Casa Grande Ruins (nps.gov/cagr), is about 20 minutes away. The Casa Grande (or big house) is one of the largest and most mysterious prehistoric structures ever built in North America. It has been protected since 1892. Among the artifacts found here include Hohokam jewelry of inlaid turquoise, as well as pieces made with shells acquired from as far away as the Gulf of California and even the Pacific, some 300 miles to the west.
One can only begin to imagine the trading network set up by the original  inhabitants, the first masters of the Valley of the Sun.   Back to Top

Getting There

• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (phoenix.gov/aviation) is served by more than 1,500 flights daily. Back to Top

Not To Be Missed

In Phoenix
•  A sunset ride or an anytime hike up Camelback Mountain.
• Copper Square, with its many historic buildings, stadiums, restaurants and shopping.
• The Desert Botanical Garden, for the largest collection of cactus in the world.
• Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art, a wonderful events center.
• A Tour on Pointe South Mountain, for its great views of the valley; it’s an easy drive or hike.

In Scottsdale
• A visit to Old Town Scottsdale for its unique stores and character.
• For golfers: a round on TPC’s Stadium Course where the FBR Open is played.
• A spa experience in one of the area’s sumptuous facilities.
• A hike on Camelback Mountain.
• Watching the SF Giants training at Scottsdale Stadium
• Downtown’s galleries, cafes and restaurants
• Native Trails Festival, January 2007
• A cocktail at the Jade Bar, Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain

In Tempe
• Tempe Town Lake in the desert, with the history behind it.
• Tempe Historical Museum
• ASU Gammage Auditorium, for the Broadway musicals

In Mesa
• The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, for the Broadway musicals.
• Rockin ’R or Barlene’s, for an experience of the Old West.
• Mesa Southwest Museum
• Play one of the 24 golf courses within the city limits.
• Head up the Apache Trail, go to Goldfield Ghost Town just to see it. Back to Top