Sanford Center — Attraction in Bemidji

I was recently here for a conference. To be clear, i am not speaking on behalf of the conference. These are just my personal observations as an attendee.

The rooms they had set up were great! I think that they really did a good job in setting up the rooms. Where they fell very short was on the rest of the planning. Part of our conference was supposed to be that a networking lunch was included. Nobody was watching the buffet style serving line, and it ran out of food. First, the salad ran out, so many didn't have that as an option, and then the main portions ran out before everyone went through. I noticed later that after everyone had given up on food, they replenished everything (except salad), so I'm sure that there was a ton of waste. Later, there was supposed to be a snack, in this case bite sized muffins, and they didn't put out anywhere near enough for the number of attendees and, again, nobody was watching and it did not get refilled that I saw. Lastly, there was a separate organization set up outside that overlapped the conference, and many of the roadways out were getting blocked off when we were leaving.

I was really glad to see a conference like this come to Bemidji. Most of them are held in St Cloud. Unfortunately, listening to people talk, I don't think they will come back. It is unfortunate, too, since most of the members of the organization that put on the conference are members of multiple organizations. It could have been really good for the community if it...

The event center itself was nice. Close walk from our hotel so no need to park. We flew into MN to see Aaron Lewis and paid for front row seats. It was an amazing time until a couple who clearly had too much to drink wandered up to the front blocking the view of those of us who paid for it. Things began getting heated after trying to nicely ask them to return to their seats however, instead of security escorting them back to the seats they CHOSE they stood in the shadows enjoying the concert. I tried to get their attention to ask them to help us avoid a bad situation in which they completely ignored me. Finally I was able to call one over and he slowly sauntered to me with a grin on his face, no urgency in tow. He said they were advised to “stand by” until something physical actually happened.

I suppose the point is, don’t spend your hard earned money on good seats because clearly you can just go stand up by the stage blocking the view of those who paid for it....

Unfortunate experience with this event center. I was hoping to have a wedding reception here and initially they were helpful in getting us the information we needed. It wasn't until after we started asking questions about the contract and what they were willing to do that they stopped answering emails and claiming that the employees needed to answer the questions I had were out on "vacation." Finally after a month of waiting we cut the cord on ever using this place for a venue. To top it off, they never even responded to my final email telling them we wouldn't be signing the contact. Very tacky, it was clear they did not want my business. Find a different place to have...