Bart Starr's game-winning quarterback sneak in minus-13 degree temperatures to clinch the 1967 NFL championship in a game known world-wide as "The Ice Bowl"...
Antonio Freeman's 43-yard "miracle catch" for the game-winning touchdown versus the Minnesota Vikings, Nov. 6, 2000...
Lombardi, Nitschke, Adderley, Hornung and Favre.
For 47 years, Packers fans have flocked to Green Bay, all the while taking in memories of some of the most amazing moments in Packers history and the finest players to ever step foot on the hallowed ground of Lambeau Field.
With the redevelopment of the NFL's longest-tenured stadium now complete and the addition of the Lambeau Field Atrium, Packers fans and foes alike are capitalizing on the opportunity to make their own memories inside the doors of one of the most recognized and envied locales in all of sports.
"What better place to host a corporate meeting than the very site where Vince Lombardi was one of the most respected leaders the game of football has ever seen," said Dee Geurts-Bengtson, executive of special events for the Packers and Lambeau Field Atrium.
Since September 2003, the Lambeau Field Atrium has been home to over 750 events, offering a venue for everything from large-scale corporate meetings to the more intimate settings for birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, fantasy football drafts, weddings, rehearsal dinners and even baptisms.
"It never ceases to amaze me what people want to do here at Lambeau Field," Geurts-Bengtson said. "In one of our first weddings here, the groom was a Kansas City Chiefs fan and the bride was a Packers fan. We decorated the room with colors from both teams and they had Super Bowl I (between the Chiefs and the Packers) playing for all their guests. It was a lot of fun."
The Lambeau Field Atrium is perfectly suited for all types of special events with rooms to fit groups from 25 to 1,100.
The Legends Club, located on the fourth floor of the Atrium, is the perfect setting for small social gatherings and is complete with a wide range of catering options from hors d'oeuvres to live chef cooking stations to a raw bar and wedding cakes provided by nationally known and award-winning Levy Restaurants.
For larger events, the first floor of the Atrium can seat up to 1,100 people and has already been host to events such as the Green and Gold Gala, the American Heart Association's Heart Ball and the Packers Women's Association fashion show. On July 17, the Lambeau Field Atrium will play host to the Packers Hall of Fame induction dinner.
"It's been a great venue for non-profit charitable events," said Geurts-Bengtson, "and because of the great love of the Green Bay Packers, people just want to be here for their event.
"Every time I take people on a tour to show them the venue when they're considering it for a potential site for their event, it's just amazing to see what this building means to them, and not only to them but to their parents and their grandparents as well."
Geurts-Bengtson, who has her own bit of history with the Packers as the daughter-in-law to former Packers head coach Phil Bengtson, joined the organization three years ago following a 21-year career with the Green Bay Visitors and Conventions Bureau, where she traveled across the country selling to meeting planners and association executives the Green Bay area as the place to be for their conventions.
Now, with the Lambeau Field Atrium up and running as a 365-day destination venue, Geurts-Bengtson, in collaboration with the Regional Tourism Office, is again taking to the road, this time to promote the Lambeau Field Atrium as a destination at trade shows in Denver and Minneapolis.
"When I would travel to these nationally and internationally known trade shows with the Visitors and Conventions Bureau, we were always competing with cities like San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas," Geurts-Bengtson said, "but it always seemed like the Green Bay booth was one of the more popular booths and it was all because of the popularity of the Packers.
"Now that I will be there representing the Lambeau Field Atrium in addition to the city of Green Bay, it will be a lot of fun because now we have so much more to offer them.
"Although our venue is not a true convention destination, we can help the KI Center and the Radisson Hotel, our two primary convention centers in Green Bay, to book those national meetings and offer them a place to host their opening receptions or closing banquets. And, in doing so, that will bring a tremendous amount of revenue into Wisconsin, Green Bay and Brown County, who supported the renovation project with the half-percent sales tax increase."
But according to Geurts-Bengtson, dates for the Lambeau Field Atrium are already going fast.
"We have weddings booked into 2006 and all types of events booked into 2008," Geurts-Bengtson said. "As of today, we have 545 events booked into the future and every day we're booking more.
"As we get closer to the start of the season, we always see the volume of calls increase because people start thinking about the upcoming season and they have that football frame of mind. You can just see that enthusiasm being created and the volume of calls increasing."
For more information on events at the Lambeau Field Atrium, click here.
