In New Orleans, you've just got to get out of the hotel and experience the city. For groups, that's where a number of unique offsite venues really shine.
One of the newest is TwiRoPa, a massive industrial building adjacent to the Morial Convention Center expansion. With a name reflecting its earlier incarnation as a twine, rope and paper factory, the 100,000-square-foot facility, sports evocative brick walls and massive cypress beams.
According to founder Angel Collazo, TwiRoPa has "smart lighting." Its fun touches include airplane wings that serve as bars. It also is filled with Collazo's own metal sculptures.
"This space is unique and very festive," Collazo said. "It's hard to create a festive atmosphere in a hotel." TwiRoPa, with an in-house events coordinator, can host up to 2,000 in one of its three rooms, 700 in another and 350 in the third.
One of the most popular venues in the city is nearby. It is the National D-Day Museum, which opened in 2000 to commemorate all things pertaining to World War II. The 70,500-square-foot facility is available to groups for exclusive tours, and it also can accommodate small meetings or large receptions, business presentations or corporate hospitality, according to Emily Claassen, group sales coordinator for the museum.
"Period-themed celebrations can be quite imaginative, such as a USO show or a South Pacific luau, a swing dance or an elegant night in Casablanca," Claassen said.
Plantation Tour Fest
No visit to the New Orleans area would be complete without tours of the plantation areas, to the north along the River Road.
"A typical plantation tour would begin with a gospel choir perched on the veranda welcoming the group," said event planner Nancy Trosclair, president of Destination New Orleans. "There might also be festival-type programs, with arts and crafts, and sportsman-type demonstrations indigenous to Louisiana, such as duck-decoy or crab-net making."
Trosclair has organized events for financial services company J.P. Morgan, including a parade for the company's 400 attendees — a unique New Orleans mode of transportation from one spot to another — accompanied by a band and local motorcycle police officers.
Two more new venues that should intrigue groups are Ralph's On The Park restaurant and Latrobe's on Royal. Ralph's is owned by Ralph Brennan, a member of the city's legendary Brennan restaurant family. It is located in City Park, near the New Orleans Museum of Art. Latrobe's on Royal, in the heart of New Orleans' famed Vieux Carre, offers a unique setting for receptions and other special events. The stylish 1822-era former bank building, listed with the National Register of Historic Places and now completely refurbished, is an architectural gem, featuring painted murals, stucco brick, striking archways, gas lamp lighting and a 21-foot domed ceiling.
Contact Christopher Hosford at
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