NCHE Conference Nitty Gritty
Parking • Hotels • Restaurants • Children at the Conference
Benton Convention Center (website) • Benton Floorplan (pdf) • Directions to the Benton • For restaurant listings: Downtown W-S Visitor Guide (pdf)
Conference Parking • Map
Friday Parking
On Friday only, NCHE offers remote parking with shuttle bus service to the convention center. Park at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds (gate 9) and ride one of our two shuttle buses to the front door of the Benton Convention Center. There will be three to six round trips per hour between 6:30 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. This service is free, but a donation will be accepted to offset the cost to NCHE for this service.
Directions for Friday only Remote Parking at Dixie Classic Fairgrounds:
From Business 40, exit onto Cherry Street and follow Cherry to the Benton Convention Center. Follow directions below from the Benton Convention Center to the fairgrounds.
From the Benton Convention Center, go north on Cherry Street, which becomes University Parkway at Northwest Boulevard. Turn right at the light at 27th Street (the first light after 25th Street). Go three tenths of a mile on 27th Street and turn left into Gate 9 at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds.
Traveling south on US 52 North, exit at Akron Drive (exit 112). Turn right onto Akron Drive, in two tenths of a mile, turn left onto Reynolds Blvd. In two blocks, turn left onto Shorefair Drive. Continue on Shorefair one block (seven tenths of a mile) and take a right onto 27th Street. Turn right into Gate 9 (one tenth of a mile) at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds.
At the fairgrounds there will be buildings on both sides as you pass through Gate 9. Bear right as you pass these and enter the double gate to park.
Other Parking:
On Friday, if you plan to park near the convention center, we recommend arriving at the following parking lots by 7:00 a.m. When parking in area parking decks, please notice the hour the deck will close for the day. Parking in all city lots is $6 per day. One-day passes allow unlimited entry and exit. There is an ample amount of free parking on the street Monday through Friday after 5:00 p.m. and all day Saturday.
- Sixth Street, Cherry Street and Trade Street Deck will be open until 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights of the Conference.
- Cherry Street and Marshall Street Deck never closes.
- Liberty Street and Main Street Deck has hourly parking spaces available. Open Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
- Fourth Street and Church Street Deck is located between Fourth, Fifth, Church and Chestnut Streets. It operates Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Note: the entrance on Fourth Street is accessible twenty-four hours a day Monday through Saturday.
- Marshall Street and Second Street lot, $2 daily
DO NOT park in the lot of First Baptist Church across the street from the convention center!
Conference Hotels
NCHE has reserved blocks of rooms and made arrangements for special rates at twelve establishments. Please note the cut-off dates. After these dates, the rooms will not be held for NCHE, and the rates will be considerably higher. Please be considerate of other homeschool families and do not hold unneeded rooms past the cut-off dates, forcing others to pay the higher rate. When making reservations, ask for in-house reservations and mention that you are with the NCHE conference.
Hotel accommodations are listed in order of approximate distance from the convention center.
Cut-off date for special rates at all locations is April 22, 2008.
A Embassy Suites. (West Tower) 460 N. Cherry St., (800) 696-6107, $115 single, $120 double, $125 triple, $130 Quad. Parking $6 per day.
B Marriott. (East Tower) 425 N. Cherry St., (800) 320-0934, $80 single, $85 double, $90 triple, $95 quad. Parking $6 per day.
C Best Western Salem Inn. 127 S. Cherry St. (800) 533-8760, $67. Continental breakfast.
D The Brookstown Inn. 200 Brookstown Ave., just south of Business 40 on the corner of S Marshall and Brookstown Ave., (800) 845-4262, $99.99. Complimentary full European breakfast and evening tea.
F Wingate Inn. 125 S. Main St., just north of Business 40, off Marshall St., (336) 714-2800, $78. Continental breakfast.
G Hawthorne Inn. 420 High St., just south of Business 40, off Marshall St., (800) 972-3774, $87. Continental breakfast.
H Sundance Plaza Hotel and Suites. 3050 University Parkway, (336) 723-2911, $80. Continental breakfast.
J Courtyard at Hanes Mall. 1600 Westbrook Plaza Dr., (336) 727-1277, $79.
Holiday Inn Select. 5790 University Parkway, (800) 553-9595, $85.
Area Restaurants
For restaurant listings: Downtown W-S Visitor Guide (pdf)
Attention: Parents Bringing Children to the Conference!
There are many state conventions that do not allow children to attend. However, NCHE realizes that many of you would be unable to attend if children were prohibited. We strongly suggest, for your own benefit and the benefit of others, that you do not bring children with you unless your situation requires it. If you must bring children, please take special note of the following information.
It is very important that your younger children be kept under your supervision at all times. Do not allow any children to roam the halls alone or play on the escalators or elevators in the convention center or hotels. You alone are responsible for your children’s safety and for preventing them from needlessly occupying and tying up the escalators and elevators. Do not allow children to roam the book fair alone. If you have small children, please keep them by your side in the book fair. A nursing mother’s room is available downstairs outside the tunnel and across from the snack bar. Strollers and other four-wheeled vehicles can cause many problems in the book fair. For this reason, we do not allow these devices to be used for shopping carts. Strollers are allowed to transport small children.
If you are not bringing a child who needs a stroller, do not bring a stroller. We will allow two-wheeled luggage carriers. Each workshop will have designated seats near the exits for parents with small children to slip out if the children cannot keep quiet during the session. Each session is taped and those in attendance do not want to miss anything, so our monitors will ask parents to leave if they remain in the workshop with a noisy child. Of course, mothers with quiet nursing babies are welcome, however, please be considerate of others. Let’s all work together to alleviate these problems so that we can keep our policy “open” on children and strollers.
