Florence and the Shoals: Unexpected luxury in North Alabama
Want to wow attendees?
The 360 Grill, Alabama’s only rotating restaurant, is a fine dining restaurant that rotates 360 degrees every hour and has a piano lounge. It is connected to the Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa, a 200-room hotel overlooking the Wilson Dam and Lake that is affiliated with the Robert Trent Jones Shoals Golf Course, home of the Schoolmaster and the Fighting Joe. Altogether, the hotel has more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space, from boardrooms to a 12,000-sq. ft. ballroom, which is located across from the hotel in a freestanding convention center. Next to the center is a public park and fountain, which has choreographed light and music shows nightly. Swampers Bar & Lounge, named for backup singers who sang on “Sweet Home Alabama” and sometimes perform at the hotel, features memorabilia from the FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals. If you want to light up an outdoor function, TNT Fireworks can arrange pyrotechnic displays.
Want a community service project?
The Rosenbaum Home is the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structure in Alabama, and the only home of its kind open for tours in the Southeast; community service opportunities are available to groups wanting to help restore this important building.
Want unusual off-site venues?
Coby Hall, an 1843 Greek Revival mansion at the University of North Alabama, overlooks the Tennessee River and is available for catered events, meetings and other functions. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame has exhibits honoring the musical contributions of people such as W.C. Handy, Hank Williams Sr., Percy Sledge and Tammy Wynette, themed areas (Southern Star tour bus, an R&B nightclub, a gospel showcase) and a recording studio, where attendees can make a cassette or video recording of their favorite songs. The Children’s Museum of the Shoals has interactive exhibits and art rooms. The historic Ritz Theatre has a meeting room and a 356-seat theater.
Want artistic settings?
More than 50 artists are based here; engage one to lead an art workshop, or take attendees or spouses on a studio or gallery tour; contact the Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Bureau for ideas. The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts has galleries and educational programs in two historic homes. First Fridays fill the streets of downtown Florence with art and entertainment from 5-8 p.m.
Want group activities?
Groups can take agricultural tours of local cotton and honey bee farms, shopping tours of Florence or English Village. Other sites open for tours include the FAME and Jackson Highway recording studios, the birthplace museums of W.C. Handy (“Father of the Blues”) and Helen Keller, the Civil War era Pope’s Tavern Museum, the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, and the prehistoric Florence Indian Mound and Museum.
