|
Fort Myers Conventions, Trade Shows, Conferences and Meetings
Finding Conventions in Fort Myers can be quite time consuming. At Conventions.net, we provide you with an easy to use, efficient means of searching for event planning resources for trade shows, conferences, meetings, and conventions all in a manner of seconds. You have the opportunity to choose from a vast selection of convention centers and meeting facilities in Fort Myers. We developed Conventions.net to make the search for event planning resources easier than ever.
Locating Convention Centers and Trade Shows in Fort Myers
At one time the most efficient way to locate Convention and Trade Show planning resources in Fort Myers was to call company after company simply based on their yellow page ad. Now, when you use Conventions.net you can find meeting planning resources in Fort Myers that meet your specific needs. Not only is this a convenient way to quickly locate convention and conference planning resources, but it is also an excellent resource to find industry suppliers such as hotels, resorts, event speakers, convention centers, and convention visitor bureaus.
We are affiliated with both large nationwide trade show planning companies as well as smaller local convention industry suppliers, which offer trade show and convention planning resources in Fort Myers. So, if you are looking to plan a meeting, convention, or trade show in Fort Myers you have nothing to lose, and only time and money to gain by letting Conventions.net help you fill your event planning needs.
FORT MYERS , fifty miles south, may lack the élan of Sarasota, but it's nonetheless one of the up-and-coming communities of the southwest coast. Fortunately, most of its recent growth has occurred on the north side of the wide Caloosahatchee River, which the town straddles, allowing the traditional center, along the waterway's south shore, to remain relatively unspoiled.
Once across the river, US-41 strikes downtown Fort Myers, picturesquely nestled on the water's edge. Here, the Fort Myers Historical Museum , 2300 Peck St (Tues-Sat 9am-4pm; $2.50), provides thorough insights into the town's past, including the exploits of Dr Franklin Miles, the local man who developed Alka Seltzer.
In 1885, six years after inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison collapsed from exhaustion and was instructed by his doctor to find a warm working environment or face an early death. Vacationing in Florida, the 37-year-old Edison bought fourteen acres of land on the banks of the Caloosahatchee and cleared a section of it to spend his remaining winters (he lived to be 84) at what became the Edison Winter Home , 2350 McGregor Blvd, a mile west of downtown (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; guided tours every half-hour; $12; an extra $2 allows you entry into the Ford Winter Home). The tours begin in the gardens, planted with such exotics as African Sausage trees and wild orchids. The house (which you can glimpse only through the windows), though, is an anticlimax, its plainness probably due to the fact that Edison spent most of his waking hours inside the laboratory , attempting to turn the latex-rich sap of Solidago edisonii (a strain of goldenrod weed he developed) into rubber. However, when the tour reaches the engrossing museum the full impact of Edison's achievements becomes apparent: a design for an improved ticker-tape machine provided him with the funds for the experiments that led to the creation of the phonograph in 1877, and financed research that resulted in the incandescent light bulb. Here, too, you'll see some of the ungainly cinema projectors derived from Edison's Kinetoscope - which brought him a million dollars a year in royalties from 1907. Next door, the uninspiring Ford Winter Home , bought by Henry Ford in 1915, is open for viewing (tours as for Edison Home). The banyan tree outside the ticket office is the largest tree in the state, grown by Edison from a seedling.
Los Angeles may have perfected urban sprawl, but Detroit invented it. Following the dictates of the auto industry, Detroit abandoned its efficient streetcar system in the 1950s and built a network of freeways. Many fine city neighborhoods never recovered and an adequate mass transit system was never built to replace the trolleys. The old spoke pattern of main roads (Jefferson, Gratiot, Woodward, Grand River, Michigan and Fort) emanating from downtown was eclipsed by the freeway system, and these main thoroughfares suffered declines that are yet to be reversed.
Not surprisingly, the Motor City is impossible to navigate without a car. The metropolis has expanded into seven counties with no end in sight, and the suburban population is more than three times that of the city proper.
Although the landscape is mostly flat, recreational opportunities abound, most of them centered around water. To the northeast of the city sprawls Lake St. Clair, a shallow but broad lake popular for boating and fishing. The Detroit River is a resource that the city has never fully exploited though a system of parks and greenways is now gradually taking shape. To the south, the western end of Lake Erie has marshes and great fishing spots. Inland lakes dot western and northern Oakland County, which lies to the city's northwest and has the region’s hilliest terrain; here the battle over sprawl is most intense. The area boasts three major river systems: the Clinton, the Rouge, and the Huron, which drain a vast area. The wonderful Metroparks system provides a ring of family-friendly recreation sites around the region, all accessible within an hour’s drive.
Downtown
In the 1950s, downtown Detroit was such a bustling area of shops, theaters, restaurants and night life that residents of dreary Toronto rode trains to Detroit for weekend excursions. In subsequent decades, the two cities switched places, but now Detroit is making a comeback.
The old downtown of grand movie houses and department stores is all but vanished, but lively areas have sprung up around the perimeter of the aging banking-and-commerce center. The north end of downtown is the latest hot spot. Comerica Park, a new baseball stadium for the Detroit Tigers, opened in 2000. The National Football League Detroit Lions, who abandoned downtown in the 1970s for suburban Pontiac, have since returned to Ford Field, which was built adjacent to Comerica Park. Nearby is the glamorous Fox Theatre, the renovated crown jewel of the city’s opulent movie houses, as well as the aptly-named Gem Theatre, The Second City Detroit comedy theater, the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, and an assortment of restaurants and bars.
On the eastern edge of downtown is Greektown. What was once just a block of Greek restaurants has now become the center for Detroit nightlife, with its many eateries, bistros and clubs. One of Detroit’s three temporary casinos is drawing additional people to the area. Adjacent is the restaurant-and bar area known as Bricktown, and near that is the towering Renaissance Center. East of the Renaissance Center, along Jefferson Avenue, new housing and retail developments are taking shape beyond the restaurants and clubs of the warehouse district known as Rivertown.
Other pockets of activity include the Cobo Convention Center and the Joe Louis Arena, home to the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings, and the western outskirts, where two more temporary casinos have opened. Most of downtown’s sites are linked by the People Mover elevated train system.
Cultural Center/New Center
Detroit’s Cultural Center is situated between Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center, an impressive complex of hospitals and research facilities. The Detroit Institute of Arts is famed for its Diego Rivera murals, which chronicle history through the eyes of laborers, and Auguste Rodin’s sculpture "The Thinker". Nearby is the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the largest museum of its kind in the United States. Families can also enjoy the Detroit Science Center and the Detroit Historical Museum.
Farther north, the New Center Area boasts the ornate, golden-towered Fisher Building and its Fisher Theatre, home to touring Broadway shows, as well as the General Motors Building and Henry Ford Hospital.
South of the Cultural Center, a major renovation effort is underway to preserve the acoustically rich Orchestra Hall.
The West Side
Near the Ambassador Bridge is Mexicantown, the heart of Detroit’s growing Hispanic community, with dozens of great restaurants. Dearborn is home to the Ford Motor Company world headquarters, the Fairlane Town Center, and the area’s foremost attraction, the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, where the intertwining history of America and the automobile are chronicled. With a large Arabic population, Dearborn also has an intoxicating array of authentic Middle Eastern restaurants.
Farther west is the bustling Metropolitan Airport, which is undergoing a major expansion to handle increasing traffic. A new trade center is taking shape in nearby Romulus. Livonia has Laurel Park Place, a major shopping and entertainment area.
Oakland County
Oakland County is vast and diverse. It is one of the nation’s wealthiest counties, and the site of the world’s first enclosed shopping mall (the Northland Center). Many other shopping opportunities abound, including the upscale Somerset Collection and new Great Lakes Crossing.
In the southern part of the county, a vibrant restaurant and nightclub scene has sprung up in once-stodgy Royal Oak. North along Woodward Avenue, Birmingham’s thriving downtown features upscale shops of taste and variety.
In the northeastern part of the county, Auburn Hills is home to the Palace of Auburn Hills, the home of the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons. It also has the new Chrysler Technology Center. Nearby in Rochester are Oakland University and its acclaimed Meadow Brook Theatre. In West Bloomfield Township is the deeply moving Holocaust Memorial Center.
Each August, the Woodward strip from Ferndale to Pontiac hosts the Woodward Dream Cruise, the world’s largest rolling participatory auto show and the ultimate 1950s and 1960s nostalgia trip.
The East Side and Macomb County
Go east from downtown along Jefferson Avenue parallel to the Detroit River and you will pass the bridge to Belle Isle, one of the world’s great urban parks. The Grosse Pointe area boasts mansions of auto executives and scenic Lakeshore Drive. The nondescript suburbs of Macomb County include some items of interest: The Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, and Metropolitan Beach on Lake St. Clair.
Windsor
One of the few places in the United States where one can travel south into Canada is from downtown Detroit. By way of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or by bridge, it’s easy to reach Windsor, Ontario, whose clubs and restaurants are an integral part of the metro Detroit entertainment scene. The popular Windsor Casino served as the impetus for Detroit to start building its own casinos.
|
|
