Nestled within Northern California, the city of Sacramento celebrates culture, culinary arts, and diversity, also boasting temperate weather and plentiful entertainment and leisure activities. The capital of California, Sacramento is home base for the governor, legislators, and numerous state agencies. Business gets done in this city—either at plush hotels like the Hyatt Centric Downtown Sacramento and AC Hotel Sacramento or at major event venues like Golden 1 Center, the California Exhibition & State Fair (also known as Cal Expo), and SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, which features 240,000 square feet of gathering space.
The Downtown Commons (DOCO) mixed-use district is home to Golden 1 Center, where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings play, and much more. Dozens of restaurants, ranging from fine dining to casual, also are sprinkled around DOCO. Nicknamed “America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital,” Sacramento is a popular place to host dine-arounds, during which meetings groups might enjoy craft cocktails at one place and a delectable Insta-worthy dessert a block or two down.
Sacramento doesn’t end at DOCO—it also is home to the Old Sacramento Waterfront area, Sutter’s Fort Historic State Park, and the California State Capitol Museum. The Old Sacramento Waterfront sits along the Sacramento River and is lined with shops, museums, music venues, and art galleries, also offering opportunities to get out on the water aboard the Delta King paddlewheel riverboat.
One of Sacramento’s signature event spaces is the 350-acre indoor/outdoor Cal Expo, known for hosting the 172-year-old California State Fair each year. “The great thing about our location is we’re in the centralized hub of Sacramento,” says Cal Expo’s Director of Marketing and Business Development Alex Alcantar. “We have a mall across the street, you can go downtown, and there is food everywhere.” Cal Expo hosts hundreds of events each year, regularly hosting larger functions like the annual Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Expo.
Cal Expo is spacious enough for four to five events to happen at the same time within one or a few of its expo buildings, mezzanine areas, and other gathering spaces. “[Meeting planners] can find plenty of space here for whatever they need,” Alcantar adds. “Our goal is to provide diversity, showing what Sacramento really is. We provide a blank canvas to make every event successful.”
On the Food Scene
Originally from Southern California, Mariles Krok, Visit Sacramento’s chief convention sales and services officer, says she had no idea about the abundance of recreational opportunities and amazing restaurants in Sacramento until she moved there. “We have whitewater rafting 45 minutes away [on the American River],” Krok says. “And 75% of all the sushi rice and caviar in the country comes from Sacramento.” To enjoy some of this bounty in an interactive class, planners might book sushi-rolling experiences at places like Lucid Winery, which offers its “Make Sushi Rolls With Chef Birdie” session for up to 25 participants.
Rich in agriculture and with two Michelin-starred restaurants, the Sacramento area holds its own when it comes to dining. In 2023, Visit Sacramento won the contract to host the biennial Terra Madre Americas festival, which highlights the best in sustainable food practices; two years later, the city hosted The Michelin Guide California 2025 ceremony.
“I come from big destinations, but coming here, we’re at the center of everything,” Krok says. “There’s amazing food, great weather, and you can walk around downtown or Midtown. [Attendees] can shop at farmers markets with a chef or take part in a mozzarella-pulling workshop together.” Midtown Sacramento restaurant Mulvaney’s B&L periodically offers a “Chef’s Market Tour and Cooking Class” experience, where participants walk to the Midtown Farmers Market with Chef Patrick Mulvaney to source seasonal ingredients before heading back to the restaurant for a hands-on class and lunch. For dairy aficionados, Mulvaney’s and other area restaurants also occasionally offer private group cheesemaking classes depending on the season.
History & Style
Opened in 2021, Hyatt Centric Downtown Sacramento is quite literally in the center of Sacramento’s activity, as its name implies. Being three blocks away from the state Capitol, it also is a popular place for government officials to stay when the legislature is in session. The 172-room boutique lifestyle hotel offers groups a 30-person private dining room; the 3,000-square-foot Clayton Club Rooftop Lounge, popular for networking, that can be split into breakout rooms; and the 150-person Baby Grand meeting room that features its own foyer and private restrooms for extra exclusivity.
“The larger events with 100-plus people are usually held in the Clayton Club,” says Director of Sales and Marketing Nancy Wagner. “The space has a speakeasy feel to begin with, and groups often will expand on that decor and bring in their own activations.” She adds, “The hotel celebrates the hot jazz scene with nuances of jazz music throughout the building. The [original] Clayton Club had Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday play there in the 1940s.” While its location has changed from ground floor to rooftop, the Clayton Club retains the moody vibe of its storied past, often hosting themed events ripe with the flapper dresses and wingtip shoes of Jazz Age culture.
Another bonus of booking meetings and events at the Hyatt Centric is the hotel provides top-notch cuisine across all its food and beverage services. “We have an award-winning chef; all guest rooms are serviced by our main kitchen and culinary team, so meeting groups are not eating the same thing every day,” Wagner says.
Mix Business & Pleasure
The AC Hotel Sacramento has two small media salons that cater to the business transient crowd, allowing people to have a last-minute brainstorming session before going about their day, whether they’re heading on the 1 1/2-minute walk to the Golden 1 Center or the 10-minute walk to the Capitol. The hotel shares a parking lot with The Urban Hive, a coworking space that also can host 300-person conferences.
“We get a lot of folks who come into our hotel and go to the [on-site restaurant] AC Kitchen for breakfast,” says AC Hotel Sacramento’s Director of Sales Noelle Ghiorso. “And we’re near the legislative office, so lawyers and congressional members head to work and come back, maybe go to a bar. Or, they spend their day working in the lobby because it’s very walkable to where they need to be.”
Proximity to attractions is a key draw at Hyatt Centric Downtown Sacramento—Wagner notes West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park is nearby, the temporary home of MLB’s Athletics and the permanent home of the Sacramento River Cats minor league baseball team, a Triple-A affiliate of MLB’s San Francisco Giants. It’s less than a mile away from the hotel, so planners often get suites for their groups during their stay. And since the Hyatt Centric shares a wall with Golden 1 Center, event organizers also might get suites for Kings games and do pregame events at the hotel.
Over at Golden 1 Center, 15 distinctive event spaces are available. The arena hosts up to 50 special events per year, ranging from nonprofit galas and corporate fundraisers to multiday conferences and large-scale summits. The venue’s flexibility allows it to accommodate events of all sizes—from intimate gatherings to full-arena productions. It also was the first indoor sports venue in the nation to achieve LEED-Platinum certification and one of the first indoor professional sports venues in the world to be powered entirely by solar energy.
The Golden 1 Center even offers a “Royal Court Experience,” during which the arena floor transforms into an exclusive setting for events. Designed for up to 100 people, this one-of-a-kind experience allows attendees to dine directly on the Kings’ home court. The evening includes a high-energy welcome from the Sacramento Kings Dancers and feline mascot Slamson; custom lighting design; and a four-course, curated farm-to-fork dining experience.
calexpo.com
capitolmuseum.ca.gov
deltaking.com
golden1center.com
hyatt.com
marriott.com
safecreditunionconventioncenter.com
sutterhealthpark.com
theurbanhive.com
visitsacramento.com
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