WHEN PLANNERS FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE STATE THINK, “Gold Country,” the images that come to mind are likely of quaint, remote, maining towns. But that’s thinking small.Â
Gold Country is the generic term for the western slope of the Sierra Nevada that was swarmed by miners back in the day. It encompasses parts of 10 counties and includes highly accessible day-trip and multi-day opportunities less than an hour from Sacramento International Airport, downtown hotels and the centrally located city of Folsom. For planners willing to go with the flow, U.S. Route 50, which roughly parallels the American River, is today’s fast track to Gold Country fun.
The Sacramento Connection
No gold was ever found in Sacramento, but the city at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers played a vibrant role as a bustling supply center for forty-niners headed to the mother lode.
City founder John Sutter owned the American River sawmill where the nugget that set off the Gold Rush was found. Today, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park hosts evening events with an interpretive twist for groups of up to 250.
“We do interpretive pioneer dinners and barbecues where we have people dressed in period clothing talk about the fort and do hands-on activities customized for their particular group,” says Lisa Mealoy, executive director of Friends of Sutter’s Fort, the museum’s nonprofit arm. A recent Feast at the Fort event saw top chefs headlining a dinner event in conjunction with the city’s first Farm-to-Fork Festival.
Planners looking for sense of place experiences for their clients can mine a rich vein in Old Sacramento. Restaurants, museums and entertainment venues abound, along with the 242-room Embassy Suites Sacramento-Riverfront Promenade and the Delta King, Sacramento’s most unconventional lodging option. The 1920s-era paddle-wheeler (and twin of the more famous Mississippi Queen) is a 44-room floating hotel permanently moored on the Sacramento River. It hosts meetings and receptions for groups of up to 195 in rooms with expansive river views. “Because it’s a different kind of venue, we’ll have a meeting in one room and shake it up by having lunch outside if the weather is nice,” says Chris Coyne, director of sales and catering. Another memorable Old Sacramento gathering spot is the California State Railroad Museum, where gatherings of as many as 500 can be staged on or alongside vintage train equipment.
Wholesome Folsom
The city of Folsom, hugging the American River about 30 miles east of Sacramento on U.S. Route 50, is connected to the capital both by light rail transit and the highly popular, 32-mile American River Bike Trail. Folsom boasts a recently restored historic core bursting with entertainment, shopping and restaurant venues, and the Folsom Tourism Bureau works closely with neighboring El Dorado County to encourage group excursions to Gold Country.
“Folsom’s position in the geographic center between Sacramento and Gold Country gives us the chance to celebrate the best of both regions,” says Mary Ann McAlea, the bureau’s executive director. She adds that the bureau has introduced a new program offering between-venue shuttle subsidies to groups that meet room minimums.
Known for the infamous Folsom State Prison, the city also features numerous nationally flagged hotels with meeting space, as well as the privately owned, 138-room Lake Natoma Inn, ideally situated next to the river and bike trail, and just a block from the heart of the action on Sutter Street. The full-service inn has 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space plus two landscaped patio areas for outdoor receptions.
Leigh Bashor, PHR, director of administrative services for Biddle Consulting Group’s Folsom office, finds the Lake Natoma Inn perfect for company events and housing out-of-town clients. “The conference rooms have windows overlooking a lovely patio,” she says.
Folsom’s Harris Center for the Arts, a performing arts complex comprising three venues ranging from a 100-seat recital hall to the 850-seat Stage One, is the city’s largest indoor gathering spot and serves as a kind of de facto convention center.
Marcia Durst, CMP, of Durst Event Strategies, has organized numerous events at the center, including a recent user conference for 275 tech company employees. “The theater setting is great for a keynote,” she says. “It’s a theatrical space, as opposed to a standard ballroom or convention center space, and it really lent itself to this particular group.”
El Dorado Gold Country
Forty-five minutes east of Sacramento on U.S. Route 50 is Placerville, the El Dorado County seat often overlooked by travelers passing through on their way to or from Lake Tahoe.
Jody Franklin, director of tourism for the county visitors’ authority, says there’s plenty of reason to pull over. “What I’ve found is that no matter where people are coming from, we’re still undiscovered,” she says. “People just don’t know what’s here to see and how much there is to do, lots of it within a mile of Highway 50.”
Two dozen wineries and more than 100 family-owned ranches and farms dot the rugged landscape around Placerville. The Apple Hill region north of U.S. Route 50 specializes in farm-fresh produce and is particularly well-suited for tour groups.
In town, visitors with an interest in gold rush history can get an earful with a guided walking tour-or an eyeful with a trip back in time at Placerville Hardware, an institution since 1852 and still a purveyor of gold-mining equipment. Just down the street at Winterhill Olive Oil, groups can taste and learn about one of Gold Country’s hottest new products. One of the oldest products is on show at the Gold Bug Mine, a classic hard-rock gold mine where guided group tours include living history demonstrations at a restored stamp mill.
For lodging or events, planners often turn to the Historic Cary House Hotel on Main Street, an 1850s landmark with meeting and event space for up to 80. A few miles from town, Eden Vale Inn is a contemporary seven-room bed-and-breakfast in a pastoral setting that can be bought out for VIP retreats. Another rural surprise is nearby Café Mahjaic in the village of Lotus, offering a fine dining experience off the beaten track.
Eight winding miles from Placerville on California State Route 49, the South Fork of the American River rushes past the spot where, in 1848, James Marshall, manger of Sutter’s sawmill, discovered the gold nugget that changed the course of American history. Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park holds a hallowed spot in California lore. From April through Labor Day, guided whitewater rafting trips attract corporate groups in search of teambuilding opportunities.
