While beaches and local parks are at a planner’s fingertips when it comes of off-site events, Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast are filled with creative alternatives for breakouts, receptions, seminars and all kinds of other group gatherings.
Palm Beach
The Norton Museum of Art (561.832.5196; www.norton.org), famed for its 19th and 20th century paintings and European sculpture collection, offers spacious facilities for up to 300 banquet style or 500 reception style, with abundant natural light and tropical palm accents. Venues include an outdoor garden, a three-story atrium and a pavilion with a Chihuly-glass ceiling.
Ragtops Motorcars Museum (561.655.2836; www.ragtopsmotorcars.com) turns your event into a trek down Route 66, with auto memorabilia and a collection of vintage cars valued at more than $1 million. The museum occupies a three-story building with 23,000 square feet of space available for groups as large as 1,500.
The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (561.495.0233; www.morikami.org) surrounds your event with the peaceful ambience of artifacts and artwork, tea ceremonies and 16 acres of gardens that lead visitors past towering bamboo and rushing waterfalls, along small lakes teeming with koi, and beside intricate beds of carefully raked pebbles. Cocktail receptions are held on the terrace, corporate presentations in the theater, and larger groups can gather beneath a tent on the grounds.
Touted as the world’s largest, the National Croquet Center (561.478.2300; www.croquetnational.com) includes a 19,000-square-foot clubhouse with a professional kitchen and full bar. Up for a little team-building competition? Twelve lawns spanning four acres can accommodate up to 192 players at one time, while the facility also can host VIP and corporate groups of up to 600.
Treasure Coast
The Vero Beach Museum of Art (772.231.0707; www.vbmuseum.org), home to five galleries and a sculpture garden, can host groups of up to 300 in a variety of rental spaces, including the Holmes Great Hall, the smaller, intimate Loggia and the expansive Leonhardt Auditorium. Classrooms also are available.
The Riverside Theatre (772.231.6990; www.riversidetheatre.com) can seat up to 692 in its mainstage arena and up to 250 in the smaller Waxlax Theatre. Meanwhile, the Riverside Children’s Theatre is home to the Richardson Room, which can accommodate small receptions or classes.
The Indian River Citrus Museum (772.770.2263; www.veroheritage.org) preserves the story of Vero Beach’s importance as a center for citrus cultivation and exportation, and as long as your group doesn’t mind the fresh tang of orange and grapefruit in the air, it’s a great place to gather for off-site activities. A main hall with an adjacent kitchen can host up to 225 people.
The former Dodgertown is now the Vero Beach Sports Village (772.569.4900), a multipurpose sports facility that also doubles as a conference center with 20 meeting rooms. Groups can dine and sleep on-site and take basketball, tennis or volleyball breaks between sessions.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the McKee Botanical Garden (772.794.0601; www.mckeegarden.org) is an 18-acre subtropical jungle hammock filled with plants and flowers that enhance group events in the Hall of Giants, two educational buildings and an outdoor patio.