Explore St. Louis

Need a weekend getaway? Explore St. Louis.

You can make some beautiful music on Friday night when the free Jungle Boogie concert swings from 5 - 7 p.m. at the Saint Louis Zoo. At Jefferson Barracks County Park, the Blues on the Mississippi series begins at 8 p.m. Billy Idol sneers his way across the stage at The Pageant concert club in the Loop neighborhood and, down the street, Kim Massie adds her voice to the Divas of Jazz series at Brandt's Cafe and The Young Dubliners perform at Blueberry Hill. Rick Springfield (yes, that Rick Springfield) is in concert at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre Downtown.

On Saturday, you can catch "All That Tap," a salute to the art of tap dance, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Also on Saturday, up-and-coming jazz chanteuse Erin Bode sings at Brandt's, Hooch & Daddy O are at The Pageant and the Kim Massie Trio is on stage at Finale in the Clayton neighborhood.

Sunday brings the Sugar Water Festival (Queen Latifah, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott) to UMB Bank Pavilion and the Scream Tour IV Festival to Savvis Center. (If you don't know what Scream Tour is, you're too told to go.) The Compton Heights Band performs a Sunday Serenade in the evening at Francis Park.

If you're bringing the kids, why not get them really, really dirty at Mighty Mud Mania. (Then you can hose them off and throw them into the hotel pool.) The annual event takes muddy family activities to new depths at Jefferson Barracks Park on Saturday. Cleaner fun can be found on The Hill, St. Louis' Italian neighborhood where Saturday is Hill Day 2005. You can learn to play (and properly pronounce) Bocce, Italian lawn bowling. Plus you can get tasty treats from the Hill's famous restaurants, enjoy some music and shopping or just mingle with the locals. Noon - 9 p.m.

Gateway International Raceway honors the royalty of racing on Saturday, July 30 during the Wallace Family Tribute 250 NASCAR Busch Series.

Check the interactive Calendar of Events for info on these events and much more.

Let's say you've never been to St. Louis before. (Is that possible? You've never eaten a toasted ravioli? Never visited a blues club? Never had a cold Bud fresh from the Brewery tour's hospitality center?) Then you might need a quick idea of what there is to see and do here before your first visit. See the video.

Now that you know more about us, gather your friends or family members and make plans for a St. Louis getaway. We have special hotel packages for families, couples, shoppers, casino players, sports fans and arts & culture lovers. Or, you can check room-only rates for your travel dates at St. Louis' top hotels.

Click on the interactive Calendar of Events to see what's happening during your St. Louis visit. We list sporting events, theatre and music, festivals, fairs, etc.

And don't forget to visit the Tickets & Deals area to save on attraction admissions, shopping, transportation, dining and much more to make an already affordable St. Louis visit even more cost effective.

See you soon!

Who says there's nothing going on in the middle of the week? Get out on July 27 and take advantage of one of the special events taking place in the City and the County:

• Interlude -- the sophisticated vocal duo of Sharon Hunter and Kevin Kurth are warbling at Brandt's Café in The Loop neighborhood. For more information call: (314) 727-3663.

• Off the Wall Wednesday - This may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. The classic Bogart film, "Casablanca," is shown outside in Kiener Plaza in Downtown St. Louis. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8: 45 p.m. For more information call: (314) 436 6500. FREE

• Sessions Big Band -- The hipsters are swinging into the new club, Finale, at 8025 Bonhomme, in Clayton. Call 314-421-4400 for tickets.

• Whitaker Music Festival -- Can a White Boy play the blues? You bet he can. See Billy Peek in concert at the beautiful Missouri Botanical Garden. Call (314) 577-5100.FREE. If you don't get enough music at the Garden, stop in at BB's or the Broadway Oyster Bar just south of downtown for music from 9 p.m. until 2:30 a.m.

• Gateway Grizzlies Baseball Game -- The Cards are on a West Coast tour, but that shouldn't stop you from catching some baseball action. See the Gateway Grizzlies take on the Chillicothe Paints at GMC Stadium in Sauget, IL, within sight of the Arch. Call (618) 337-3000.
  

Looking for a place to cool off during the day while you're out exploring St. Louis? (And no complaining. It's hot everywhere in the summer.) Here are a few of our favorite icy hangouts:

• Penguin & Puffin Coast at the Saint Louis Zoo. (Which is free as well as cool.) You could reach out and touch these playful arctic birds if it weren't for the very watchful eyes of the nice zookeepers. As it is, just enjoy the breezes inside this super cool up-close exhibit.
• IceZONE at St. Louis Mills. Skate with friends or just sit in the stands and watch the more graceful among us glide by while you relax. Either way, it's a refreshing experience.
• Meramec Caverns. Take a drive out Old Route 66 to America's Cave. It's always 60 degrees inside. (Just follow the painted barn roofs for directions.)
• The Central Library. In a city known for its great architecture, we defy you to find a prettier place than this Carnegie library at 1301 Olive. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the Italian Renaissance-style building features stained glass windows, hand-stenciled ceilings and glass floors.
• The Beechwood aging room at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. (Another free attraction.) See the amber brew in its formative stages before it shows up in your cup at the ballpark. You can almost hear the vendors yelling, "Cold Bud!"

We have a new Chairman at the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission -- Dan Dierdorf, the NFL Hall of Famer and CBS football analyst. Here's the official word on Dan:

DIERDORF NAMED NEW ST. LOUIS CVC CHAIRMAN

St. Louis – July 25, 2005 – Football great Dan Dierdorf is the new Chairman of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC).

The announcement was made by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt. Dierdorf, whose term begins on August 29, replaces outgoing Chairman J. Kim Tucci, president of the St. Louis-based Pasta House Co. restaurants. Tucci has been in office since 2002.

A 1996 inductee in the pro Football Hall of Fame and a former all-pro tackle with the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals, Dierdorf has distinguished himself nationally as one of the top football announcers in the industry. He is currently an NFL television analyst for CBS and a St. Louis restaurateur.

The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission is the official destination marketing organization for St. Louis City and St. Louis County. An economic development agency, the CVC works to bring valuable conventions, meetings, group tours and leisure visitors to St. Louis. The organization also operates and manages the America’s Center convention complex, which includes the Edward Jones Dome at America’s Center. The St. Louis CVC is the only destination marketing organization in the country to also manage its community’s convention center and a domed stadium.

Dierdorf will head a 10-person Board of Commissioners appointed by the Mayor of the City of St. Louis and the St. Louis County Executive.

“We are very excited to welcome Dan to the CVC,” said Carole Moody, president of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission. “His enthusiasm for St. Louis is contagious and his high-profile in the community and across the country will be a great help in our efforts to win business for the destination.”

St. Louis now has 7,600 hotel sleeping rooms near America’s Center and more than 35,000 rooms area-wide. More than 2,200 rooms have been added to the downtown inventory since 2001. The convention center offers 502,000 square feet of prime exhibit space along with the 70,000-seat Edward Jones Dome, a 28,000 square-foot ballroom, the 1,400-seat Ferrara Theatre and the St. Louis Executive Conference Center.

Nearly $3 billion in downtown development is underway in the destination, including construction of a new ballpark for the St. Louis Cardinals to open in April 2006, a $208 million Pinnacle Casino east of the Edward Jones Dome, the Bottle District entertainment area just north of the dome, the Old Post Office Square redevelopment, dozens of new restaurants and thousands of loft condominiums opening in St. Louis’ historic buildings surrounding the convention center.

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Thinking about visiting St. Louis this year? This is a forum that will give you information about tourism and conventions here in the "Gateway to the West."

First, the basics. St. Louis is located on the Mississippi River in the heart of the Midwest. This image shows a towboat (no, they're not called "tug" boats here) gliding by the Gateway Arch, our signature attraction.

Speaking of the Arch, the monument celebrates its 40th birthday later this year. On October 28, there will be a "turn back the clock" party with rides to the top for just $1 (the same price as the original opening day). You also can see the great documentary, "Monument to the Dream," for free that day and meet some of the Arch's original builders. (If you think that scene on Mt. Rushmore in the Hitchcock movie "North by Northwest" is a palm-sweater, just wait until you watch these iron workers walking around on that thin, hot piece of metal 630 feet in the sky. And no one died. Amazing.) You can get more information at www.gatewayarch.com.

Here's a tip. If you're planning to visit the Arch during your St. Louis getaway, you can get timed tickets online in advance. Trust us...it will save you a lot of time and help you plan your trip more efficiently. Do not, however, use the timed tickets you snag as an excuse to miss the amazing Museum of Westward Expansion underneath the Arch. It explains why the monument is here in St. Louis (to honor Thomas Jefferson and to explore the opening of the American West) and gives you a crash course in American history from 1800 - 1900.