Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/3108
Black Meetings & Tourism April/May 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 98 sq. ft. of exhibit space, 31 meeting rooms, a 2,100-seat performing arts center and a 28,000-sq. ft. ballroom. There are upwards of 20,000 area hotel rooms, includ- ing more than 3,800 downtown rooms. Memphis' signature visitor attraction is the historic Beale Street entertainment district. The area encom- passes such sites as W. C. Handy Performing Arts Park, First Baptist Church Beale Street — the city's oldest African-American congregation — the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, National Civil Rights Museum and the Smithsonian Rock 'n' Soul Museum. It also includes the Burkle Estate, the site of an Underground Railroad stop, and Tom Lee Park, home to the Memphis in May festival and named for the local Black resident who, despite being unable to swim, saved 32 drowning people in a 1925 steamer accident on the Mississippi. The Pink Palace Museum, the 36,500-sq. ft. home of Piggly Wiggly supermarkets founder Clarence Saunders, now houses historical and scientific exhibits, a planetarium and IMAX Theater. Of course, the city's most popular home-turned-museum is Graceland, where scores of visitors flock to see the mansion, the Chapel in the Woods and the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum. Mississippi Riverfront attractions include Mud Island River Park, which contains a museum, Riverwalk, monorail and amphitheater, and the Ornamental Metal Museum at Schering-Plough Smithy, the city's only working blacksmith shop. Peabody Place is a popular downtown shopping, dining and entertainment district, while other top shopping haunts include Summer Avenue, Midtown and the historic Schwab's department store on Beale Street. For those traveling with kids, the Memphis Zoo in Overton Park, the Lichterman Nature Center and the Children's Museum of Memphis — which houses exhibits on science, health, math and art — offer plenty for the youngsters to see and do. NASHVILLE Groups looking for a large meeting space in the downtown area of Music City can check out the Nashville Convention Center, which offers a 118,675-sq. ft. divisible exhibit hall, an 11,000-sq. ft. ballroom and Memphis Cook Convention Center Photo Credit: Memphis CVB