Black Meetings and Tourism

M ulticultural. Fun-loving. Earth-friendly. Naturally awe-inspiring. If any of these attributes describes what you're looking for in a travel destination, you'll find it in the West. The region's African-American heritage — from the Buffalo Soldiers, cowboys and explorers of the past to mod- ern-day ranchers, artists and business owners — is just one facet of its diverse history and culture. The landscape is just as diverse, providing unrivaled natural scenery and outdoor adventure — not to mention a great incentive to protect and preserve those resources. With more speed and enthusiasm than perhaps any other region, meeting and travel destinations in the West are going green. The Oregon Convention Center was first to receive a LEED certification for existing buildings. The Long Beach Convention Center recently installed solar panels on the roof, and the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston will soon follow suit. Texas' capital city is touting its Austin Climate Protection Plan to make municipal facilities and operations carbon-neutral by 2020. The Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau even provides meeting planners with a carbon equivalent emis- sions calculator so they can tally up the carbon footprint of their events. The impression Western destinations want to leave on vis- itors is the memory of a fun and fruitful experience. ARIZONA Along with serving as the gateway to the Grand Canyon, the northern Arizona city of Flagstaff is home to an arbore- tum boasting one of the largest U.S. collections of high-coun- try wildflowers. In Mesa, part of Phoenix metro area, you can tour the state's largest arts complex, the Mesa Center for the Arts. Neighboring destinations include Scottsdale, where you can take a guided tour of the famed Taliesin West home, and Tempe, whose architectural landmarks include the Gammage Auditorium, a building resembling a tiered cake that original- ly was designed to be the royal opera house in Baghdad. In southern Arizona you'll find Tucson, where the historic Dunbar School, founded in 1918 to educate Black students, is being renovated and converted into an African-American museum and cultural center. On the state's southeastern edge in Yuma is the Yuma Historical Territorial Prison Historic State Park, once home to some of Arizona's most dangerous criminal PHOENIX If you meet in Phoenix, be sure to make time to visit some of the city's African-American cultural and historical attrac- tions. The former Phoenix Union colored High School, founded 1926 as Arizona's first Black high school, now hous- es the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. Other notable African-American heritage attrac- tions include the Black Theatre Troupe, which performs at the Helen K. Mason Center for the Performing Arts; the Swindall House, site of the only hotel that admitted Black guests — including the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Louis — during the days of segregation; and Tanner Chapel African American Episcopal Church, the city's oldest Black church. Getting to some of Phoenix's top tourist spots is easier now that the Metro Light Rail system is up and running. The Phoenix Art Museum, Heard Museum, Chase Field and US Airways Center are included among the stops, and the sys- tem also links the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to the downtown area. If kids are in your travel group, consider an outing at the Phoenix Zoo, the Hall of Flame — the world's largest collec- tion of firefighting equipment — or Rawhide, a recreation of Black Meetings & Tourism February/March 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 64 BY SONYA STINSON Shoreline of Long Beach California Photo Credit: Long Beach CVB

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