Approximately 40 miles west of Chicago, St. Charles is a bustling town, one well known for the quality of life and number of its art theaters. This city of 33,000 sits on the Fox River and forms a triangle of similarly sized cities with Batavia and Geneva. Meeting venues in St. Charles show a surprising diversity, from world-class resorts to quaint paddlewheel cruises.
The nearest airports to St. Charles are the pair in Chicago, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD; one of the top-five busiest airports in the world) and Chicago Midway (MDW). Between the two, they are connected to everywhere nationally and internationally. O'Hare is 30 miles east of St. Charles, Midway, 45.
Chief among convention venues in St. Charles is the Q Center, a conference center with room for groups of up to 2,040 persons and 150,000 square feet of function space, including 118 meeting rooms and the 19,304-square-foot Fox River Ballroom. It is the largest conference center in the Midwest and also has 1,042 guest rooms.
Hotel venues in St. Charles include the Pheasant Run Resort, which has 473 rooms and 100,000 square feet of meeting space. Other hotels able to look after groups in St. Charles include the 122-room Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites St. Charles, with 800 square feet of meeting space; 120-room Hilton Garden Inn St. Charles, with 4,740 square feet of meeting space; 92-room Hampton Inn & Suites, with 1,400 square feet of meeting space, and Hotel Baker, with 1,700 square feet of meeting space.
Known as a center of the arts, St. Charles unique venues include the ornate Arcada Theater, known as the Gem of the Fox Valley, with a spacious lobby and 800 seats; and the Dellora A. Norris Cultural Arts Center, with 1,000 seats and an art gallery for events. St. Charles Paddlewheel Boat Cruises has two boats catering to 100 persons each for trips along the Fox River; Steel Beam Theatre has space where private performances can be set up for groups of up to 40 persons, and the Royal Fox Country Club has 72 holes of golf and both interior and exterior space for events.
Dining opportunities for groups the Odyssey Greek Taverna, for 90 persons; Fat Rosie's Mexican restaurant, also for 90; Italian Francesca's by the River, for up to 150 persons; and novella-American Bistro One West, which is quickly racking up local culinary awards.
