Black Meetings and Tourism

AUSTIN If you go to Austin, be sure to check out the George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center, Texas' first Black neighborhood museum. Other key attractions include Blanton Museum of Art, the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum. Of course, you can't visit Texas' capital without getting a taste of why the city claims to be the world's "Live Music Capital." Nearly 200 live music clubs serve up samplings. At the 900,000-sq. ft. Austin Convention Center, you'll find five contiguous, column-free exhibit halls totaling 246,097 sq. ft. and incorporating a 43,000-sq. ft. Grand Ballroom, plus complementary wireless Internet service. Black Meetings & Tourism February/March 2008: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 78 Downtown Austin Skyline Photo Credit: AustinCVB TEXAS Arizona may have the grandest canyon, but the next in size is Texas' Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo. In Corpus Christi, your must-see list might include the Water Garden at the Bayfront Arts and Science Park. El Paso, the largest U.S. city on the Mexican border, offers a downtown walking tour that starts at San Jacinto Plaza, the original site of explorer Ponce de Leon's ranch. Points of interest in Galveston include the Aquarium Pyramid, Bishop's Palace and Ashton Villa. The Dallas Cowboys make their home at Texas Stadium in Irving, where you'll also find the Movie Studios at Las Colinas. South Padre Island serves up a host of fun activi- ties, from horseback riding on the beach to dolphin cruis- es. Tyler visitors can tour the Bonner-Whitaker- McClendon House and enjoy a family-friendly outing at the Caldwell Zoo. Waco is the site of the Earle-Harrison House & Pape Gardens, as well as October's Heart O'Texas Fair and Rodeo. ARLINGTON One of the top attractions in Arlington is the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum and Children's Learning Center at Rangers Ballpark. But you don't have to be a Major League baseball fan to find something interesting to see and do here. Other options include browsing the western-themed art the Frontier Gallery; visiting the historic Fielder House, headquarters for the Arlington Historical Society; and enjoying the rides and entertainment at Six Flags Over Texas. The city's largest meeting space is the Arlington Convention Center, which has 48,600 sq. ft. of col- umn-free exhibit space and 8,500 sq. ft. of meeting space. DALLAS Each spring the African American Museum of Dallas and Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame sponsors the Texas Black Invitational Rodeo, but you can tour the facility year round. Two other local Black heritage attractions for your group's itiner- ary are the Juanita Craft Civil Rights House and the Freedman's Memorial, a pre-Civil War African-American burial ground. The 75-acre Victory Park includes American Airlines Center, home court for the Dallas Mavericks and host to many other sports and entertainment events. The Dallas Convention Center boasts more than one million sq. ft. of exhibit space, including 726,726 sq. ft. of contiguous space. Dallas Skyline Photo Credit: Dallas CVB

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