VisitJoplinMO.com; @VisitJoplinMO
Set in the southwest Missouri Ozarks, Joplin offers easy highway access, modern amenities, and unique venues, according to Kerstin Landwer, director of sales for Visit Joplin. “Located where interstates 44 and 49 and the historic Jefferson Highway and Route 66 meet, Joplin is one of the most affordable locations in the Midwest,” she says. “Our hospitality plus creative out-of-the-box offerings will make planners look like rock stars, especially during the 100th birthday of Route 66 in 2026.”
Joplin is a prime meeting location for conservation- and nature-related groups, Landwer says. “A variety of plants and animals found in the surrounding area converge here for unusual biological diversity, including Shoal Creek, the most biologically diverse creek in the state. The Joplin History & Mineral Museum is home to implements from Joplin’s history as the world’s largest producer of lead and zinc. Joplin’s Wildcat Park is home to the globally unique chert glades, a near desert-like environment with hard chert bedrock on the surface.”
Joplin has approximately 1,840 guest rooms. Hotels and venues for events include the 160-room LaQuinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Joplin, with space to host 80 meeting attendees; Holiday Inn Joplin, which can accommodate 100 for meetings; Cornell Arts & Entertainment Complex, which has a 435-seat theater, classrooms, reception areas, galleries, decks, and breakout areas to host 200 guests; and Scottish Rite Cathedral, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with a 385-seat auditorium, dining room seating 400 guests, and tea room seating 100.
Unique excursions or teambuilding opportunities include programs at Wildcat Glades Nature Group, such as a dinner under the stars cooked in cast iron over a fire; Spiva Center for the Arts, with hands-on programming; George Washington Carver National Monument, where participants can recreate his famous peanut experiments; and Steins & Vines, with stops along a craft brewery and vineyards trail. Nearby, the town of Alba is home to the national award-winning microbrewery Beard Engine, and Carthage hosts the World’s Largest Small Appliance Museum. Just over the border in Kansas, Cars on the Route offers up-close experiences with the vehicles that inspired the Pixar movie Cars.
