Want a California experience for a meeting or event, but without the headaches of traffic and high price tags? Fresno and Clovis offer planners big-city amenities with a small-town atmosphere, whether you’re looking for traditional meeting spaces like the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center (98,000 square feet with four venues), or outside-of-the-box spaces like the Fresno Chaffee Zoo (with indoor and outdoor facilities available) and Chukchansi Park (with capacity of 10,000).
Downtown Fresno also offers other great venues to host meetings, such as The Grand 1401, a stunning venue that has two ballrooms (12,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet), and The Palomino Event Center (9,000 square feet with capacity of 400). In Old Town Clovis, discover the Clovis Veterans Memorial District (with more than 20,000 square feet of space, including meeting rooms and event rooms) located near locally owned restaurants, antique shops, and boutiques, as well as the Clovis Museum.
There are 6,500-plus hotel rooms across Fresno and Clovis with affordable parking. Attendees spend less time in traffic and more time networking with peers—they likely won’t spend more than 20 minutes commuting around the city.
In Fresno and Clovis, you’re where much of the nation’s food is grown. The restaurants here aren’t waiting for a tire company to tell them they have exceptional service and delicious food—they’re proving it by serving dishes made with ultrafresh ingredients. As the No. 1 agriculture-producing county in the U.S., Fresno County’s food scene is unmatched. From luxury dining to hole-in-the-wall spots, you’re getting your food as fresh as it comes. Fresno County also is a top producer of wine grapes in California and home to several wineries, with tastings available during the week. Discover Fresno County’s brewery scene offers unique beers created with locally grown ingredients. Take your group to team-building activities like The Fairway Lounge in Fresno, XLanes Fresno, or Bad Axe Throwing. Turn a work trip into a family getaway when you explore family-friendly attractions (Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Forestiere Underground Gardens, or Clovis Botanical Garden) or visit nearby Yosemite, Sequoia, or Kings Canyon national parks—each park is within 90 minutes of Fresno.
Fresno and Clovis are centrally located and easily accessible from anywhere in the state. The cities are three hours from San Francisco and Sacramento, and four hours from Los Angeles, accessible from these cities via state Route 99. Attendees also might take a train ride into Fresno County via Amtrak. Fresno Yosemite International Airport has nonstop flights from 11 other major cities in the U.S. The airport recently opened a new terminal and was named one of the “Best Small Airports” in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Visit Fresno County’s team has your back before, during, and after your event, helping you find venue options and VIP gifts, as well as providing meeting-planner incentives. For more information, reach out to Visit Fresno County Director of Sales Andrew Smith at andrew.smith@fresnocvb.org and 559-981-5503, or go to visitfresnocounty.org.
