I just finished attending a two-day conference at Muncie's Horizon Convention Center, a downtown Muncie facility that has over 47,000 square feet of meeting space available that began life as Muncie's Federal Building before being converted to a convention center that was expanded to its current size in 1996. A couple years ago, a serious lacking for the convention center was addressed with the opening of the adjacent Courtyard by Marriott, a full-service hotel that is also a teaching hotel owned by ARC of Indiana that has a mandatory policy of having 20% of its employees being persons with disabilities.
Horizon Convention Center has managed to maintain the charm of an older federal building with some beautiful upgrades that make it an appealing option for those seeking convention space in the area.
My convention utilized the Interurban room, a large banquet area that was set up with a speaker's staging area and plenty of room for the opening sessions each days with round tables, mics and food service.
As a person with a disability, it's worth noting that Horizon Convention Center offers street-level parking across the street with plenty of curb cut space. I think every door I went through had at least one door option that was automated (push-button) and the restrooms had accessibility options. We also used 3-4 of the smaller rooms for break-out sessions with audio capabilities and plenty of room for 10-30 people easily per room and possibly more.
On the first day, I somewhat lamented that a panel session in the Interurban space did not allow access for a participant in a wheelchair to get on the stage. However, interestingly enough, I learned that it had not been requested and so we weren't aware that a person in a chair would be present. I happened to be speaking during the second day, and I'm also in a wheelchair, and I was pleased to see a ramp set up so I could access the stage.
Food service was solid. We had a continental breakfast during our full-day session with several solid options. We also had a nice lunch. The in-house catering team was rock solid in terms of service.
I will note that Horizon does not allow any food/drink from outside to come into the building, which I thought was a tad extreme. However, they're certainly not the only facility to have that rule.
For those of us in wheelchairs, there's ramps/elevators to different levels and super friendly staff were working both days.
Generally, I thought tech worked well. I think the smaller rooms could have maybe used better audio options, but overall I think everything worked really well.
If you stay at the hotel, as I did, the hotel also has a parking garage and parking is included with your stay (otherwise parking in the garage is $1 an hour).
I really liked Horizon Convention Center and I'm hoping my agency returns to the facility next year. While I wouldn't call it a 5-star experience, it was a solid 4-star experience and I wouldn't hesitate to return and/or recommend it. read more