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B M & T ••• November/December 2018 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 37 AREA GUIDES F O R T W O R T H FORT WORTH'S REPUTATION AS TOP MEETING DESTINATION CONTINUES TO RISE B Y C L E T U S R A M S E Y A famously walkable downtown, easy access to DFW International Airport, world-class convention facilities like the Will Rogers Memorial Center and the Fort Worth Convention Center, the true Texas experience of the Stockyards National Historic District and a wide range of contemporary dining options make Fort Worth an easy choice for your next meeting. Plus, with more than 230 days of sunshine a year and thriving sports and live music scenes, your atten- dees will find ample opportunities to enjoy themselves. Within walking distance of thousands of downtown Fort Worth hotel rooms, a variety of delicious restaurants and fabu- lous shopping, and offering more than 250,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, nearly 60,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space, 38 breakout rooms, a 55,000-sq. ft. Events Plaza that connects to the one-of- a-kind Fort Worth Water Gardens, and an impressive 28,160-sq. ft. ballroom, the Fort Worth Convention Center is the per- fect venue for your next event. Fort Worth's highest concentration of hotels is found downtown, anchored by the area's largest hotel, which towers above the Fort Worth Convention Center. Beautifully sculpted from stone, hard- woods and glass, the AAA Four-Diamond Omni Fort Worth Hotel features luxurious accommodations with 614 guest rooms and suites, 68,000-sq. ft. of meeting space, gorgeous art and architecture, and real Texas hospitality. The city's other top-of-the-line conven- tion hotels include the 294-room Hilton Fort Worth, 431-room Sheraton Fort Worth (22,000 q. ft. of meeting space), 504-room Worthington Renaissance (57,000 sq. ft. of meeting space), and 156 two-room suite Embassy Suites (6,000 sq. ft. of function space). Hotel development is grabbing the headlines in Fort Worth these days. A Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel is anticipated for Fort Worth's historic 1930 art-deco Sinclair Building in Sundance Square. The building will convert to a 165- room hotel with basement restaurant and rooftop bar by Spring 2019. A 138-room Magnolia Boutique Hotel will be built in the heart of the Near Southside neighbor- hood, scheduled for a Summer of 2019 debut. The Sinclair Hotel (Marriott Autograph Collection) is set to open with 164 rooms by Fall 2019. The 200-room Hotel Drover, another Marriott Autograph Collection offerings, is set to open in the Stockyards by spring of 2020, while an AC Hotel by Marriott is set to come on line in downtown Fort Worth at 5th and Main with 218 rooms on 15 floors by 2020. When the meetings are over, there're plenty of entertaining options from which planners and their delegates can choose. No trip to Fort Worth would be complete without experiencing the icon- ic "Herd." The Old West comes to life before your eyes during the world's only Fort Worth Herd's twice-daily cattle drive. Real Texas cowhands drive a herd of Texas longhorns down Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards National Historic District every day at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Other possibilities include iFLY's verti- cal wind tunnel, where you can experi- ence the excitement of skydiving without having to jump out of an airplane! Or the Stockyards Championship Rodeo, the world's first indoor and only year-round rodeo. And of course, the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum, which relocated to its new home in August, houses pieces of memorabilia, artifacts and historical documents cele- brating men and women of ethnic back- grounds who worked to settle the Old West. Serving the area is the fourth-busiest airport in the nation, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, only 17.5 miles from downtown Fort Worth. From this airport, you can reach any major city in the U.S. in less than four hours. • • • STATS • • • HOTEL ROOMS Omni Fort Worth Hotel 614 Sheraton Ft. Worth Hotel & Spa 431 Hilton Ft. Worth 294 Worthington Renaissance 501 Embassy Suites 156 EXHIBITION FACILITIES Fort Worth Convention Center Total Exhibit Space 253,226 sq. ft. Largest Ballroom 28,160 sq. ft. Meeting Rooms 38. WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Fort Worth CVB – (800) 433-5747 www.fortworth.com Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce (817) 871-6538 Forth Worth Stock Yards District Photo Credit: Huntington C.C