Visit Minneapolis North Field Trip (Part II)

Last Thursday, Associate Editor Ellie Bayrd and I (Valerie Wenzel) joined Visit Minneapolis North in Maple Grove for the last of their familiarization tours of meeting and event spaces. After attending the Brooklyn Park tour on April 29 (read Part I), we were certainly eager to see Maple Grove (and enjoy reality TV themed activities again).

On this final FAM tour, we visited six venues located in the rapidly growing city of Maple Grove. Thank you to our leaders, Brooke Stoeckel, Brent Haugen, Dave Looby, Tim Zunker and Jae Baker, from Visit Minneapolis North. As we took off on the bus, we saw Dave Anderson of Brooklyn Park’s Northland Inn—he knew we would pass his hotel and stood outside to greet us as we drove by on the highway. If you couldn’t see us, Dave, we were waving at you, too!

+ Iron Chef at Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Arbor Lakes: This Venetian-style hotel is quite impressive with its bright, golden accents. Sandy Ferguson greeted us and showed us the 136-room hotel and its 25,000-square-foot themed water park (open only to hotel guests). This Holiday Inn is part of Arbor Lakes Hotels, which groups the Holiday Inn with three other properties (Staybridge Suites, Hampton Inn and Courtyard by Marriott) for sales convenience. Here, we ate a mouth-watering breakfast that featured asparagus wrapped with ham and drizzled in hollandaise and powdered-sugar raspberry puff pastries. The big show: two chefs prepared us their own concoctions using the secret ingredient: mascarpone cheese. We all ate until we were stuffed; little did we know that would not be the last of the delicious meals for the day.

   

+ Dave & Busters: For this quick stop, we toured the interactive world of this gaming/billiards/restaurant/event space—the spacious showroom, draped in red curtains, even blocks out the noise of all the action.

+ Extreme Makeover at Maple Grove Community Center: Lisa Jost and Lynne Lindquist showed off this community venue and its new amenities, including a 250-person band shell located on a picturesque pond. The two challenged us to split into groups and set tables. With provided decorations, flowers etc., we created five distinct (and beautiful) tables settings—Ellie’s team won. Who doesn’t love an opportunity to be creative in the morning?

 

+ Deal or No Deal at Cambria Suites Hotel: Amy Isaacson, director of sales, took us through this hotel, which is less than a year old and features stunning, contemporary suites. While we filled up on appetizers, groups had to decide whether to keep or trade the box at their tables. Luckily, we all made the right choice and received a box o’ goodies.

+ Divine Design at Rush Creek Golf Club: With new renovations, this elegant, stone clubhouse is quite a destination. The MacMillan ballroom, complete with patio, grand fireplace and vaulted ceilings with earth tones hosted our lunch—and served as the divine center to the tour. Before Kendra Stoeckman, catering coordinator, presented the rest of the clubhouse, we enjoyed a lesson in table linen draping from one of their staff members. It only takes a few steps to make a table exquisite!

+ Cake Boss at Hilton Garden Inn Minneapolis/Maple Grove: This full service, fresh-feeling hotel is already working on its second renovation—adding flat-screen TVs to each room, among other changes. At the end of our tour, we each chose a cupcake to decorate—while I, with a sweet tooth, threw some frosting on and ate mine in three bites, others took their time and delicately decorated cupcake masterpiece (Pictured: Ellie's decorated cupcake). 

Many thanks go to Visit Minneapolis North for the opportunity to tour these spaces and for the chance to meet some great local planners.

--Valerie Wenzel
Contributing Writer

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