Site Inspection
Riverwalk Offers Diverse Venues, Local Flavor
by Chad Emerson | Published in June 2006 Departments
Dating back over 50 years, San Antonio’s Riverwalk is regularly one of the most visited tourist destinations west of the Mississippi. And each year, a significant portion of these guests are meeting and event attendees. Of course, this will hardly come as a surprise when you consider that directly on the Riverwalk there are over 30 event venues ranging from a 1.3 million-square-foot convention center to a variety of smaller options.
For large meetings, the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is the crown jewel of the Riverwalk. Each year it hosts 300-plus events with over 750,000 attendees from all over the world. In addition to flexible exhibit and meeting space, San Antonio’s riverfront convention center complex also includes the Lila Cockrell Theatre, a performing arts venue that seats over 2,500 and is available for events.
For smaller gatherings, nearly all of the Riverwalk’s hotel properties include dedicated meeting space. Two of the most popular include the Westin Riverwalk, which has over 22,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and is well known for its large terraces overlooking the river, and the Watermark, San Antonio’s only Mobil Four-Star hotel and spa, which houses roughly 2,500 square feet of executive meeting space.
If you’re looking to get outside on the river, La Villita’s Arneson River Theatre is an open-air venue that seats 800, oozes local flavor and can be rented for as little as $350 per day.
Whatever the venue you choose, as Steve Schmader, president of the International Festival and Events Association, which recently held its 50th Anniversary Convention at the Riverwalk, notes, “the Riverwalk brings the ambiance and flavor of San Antonio right to the doorstep of each hotel [and] is a walkable, safe, vibrant site [that] offers a multitude of opportunities and venues.”