Lewisville, Texas: You Can Have it All

The ideal destination is hard to find, but here’s a hint: fly into Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, drive 10 minutes, and you’re there. Welcome to Lewisville.

Just 25 miles from Dallas, Lewisville is a vibrant community famous for both its glittering lakes and its premier sports venues.

“We’re in a great location, in the heart of north Texas, at the intersection of major highways and a short drive from Dallas and DFW,” says James Kunke, community relations and tourism director, city of Lewisville. “Location and access are a real strength for Lewisville. It’s easy to get here, and once you’re here, it’s just as easy to get anywhere you want to go.”

And oh, the places you’ll go. Lewisville is home to an impressive selection of even more impressive sports facilities. Whatever your event, chances are Lewisville has the kind of venue that your athletes will never forget. What’s more, the community embraces every event, making sure that athletes feel like hometown heroes.

“We take athletics very seriously. The cliché is put your money where your mouth is, and that’s what Lewisville does,” says Kunke. “We have invested heavily in state-of-the-art facilities. But a lot of cities can say that, right? What really sets us apart is the service we can provide. Dallas is a great city, but if you’re bringing in a 50-team tournament, they won’t have a lot of time or attention for you. In Lewisville, you are our priority.”

Service That Succeeds
Lewisville not only puts its money where its mouth is, they put their staff there too. Every event is assigned its own staff liaison to ensure that every request is fulfilled to the letter. These event liaisons perform whatever tasks event owners require, from securing locations for team meetings to planning social activities. The Lewisville staff also helps connect event planners with community partners and sponsors and helps organize transportation and hotels.

“We go out of our way to make sure that every event is successful, and that every organizer and partner is happy in the end,” Kunke explains. “It’s a competitive market, and we know that the best way to ensure that organizers come back is if they leave every time looking forward to their next event.”

Carlos Hernandez, one of those staff members, is one of the reasons Lewisville’s events keep coming back. Babette Haddox, owner of Event Connections, explains why:

“For the past two years I have had the pleasure of working with Carlos Hernandez with the Lewisville, Texas CVB. He has been a very helpful and knowledgeable resource. My experience working with the hotels has also been very positive; I have found the hotels to be very accommodating to the teams and in return, the teams have had nothing but praise for the hotel accommodations and customer service.”

Speaking of hotels, Lewisville has an ample inventory of family- and budget-friendly accommodations. Most of these hotels are also conveniently located within walking distance of the city’s one-million-square-foot mall.

Beyond just the mall, Lewisville has all kinds of attractions and entertainment for those off-the-field hours. In the mood for some culture? Try one of the area’s many community theaters or the Lewisville Lake Symphony. Hawaiian Falls adventure water park is a great place to cool off, and you can blow off some post-game steam at Gat Splat, the only indoor paintball course in the Dallas area.

The City for Sports
Not surprisingly, sports are a growth market for Lewisville, and more and more event owners are taking notice. The city hosts soccer events almost every weekend during the season, including the Panda Cup International Showcase, an event that takes both sports and community outreach to heart.

In March 2012, varsity soccer teams from four colleges, along with international club teams from Canada and South America, came together at Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park and Lewisville High School Goldsmith Stadium for Lewisville’s third Panda Cup.

One of the city’s feature venues, the 250-acre Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park offers eight lighted soccer fields, four lighted football fields, four lighted baseball fields, three concession stands with restrooms, one of the largest public skateparks in North Texas, walking paths and three manmade lakes.

During the Panda Cup, Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park welcomed professional, collegiate, club and youth soccer teams as well as the girls U18 and girls U15 Besser FC Colombian National Selection teams, including members of the Colombian national team; Calgary Chinooks U16 girls soccer team from Calgary; and Venezuela Club Selection 97 boys from Caracas.

Lewisville also helped plan Panda Cup social outreach activities, held at Goldsmith Stadium, including a donation station to collect gently used athletic gear for children in Haiti and stuffed animals for patients at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital.

Zen Sports Group started the Panda Cup in 2006, the signature event for the Panda Cup Foundation, a registered nonprofit organization that provides outreach programs and promotes culture, sportsmanship and love for the game of soccer.

Lewisville is also known for outstanding baseball and softball facilities, venues that are favorites for a number of repeat high-profile tournaments. The city maintains strong partnerships with its local indoor facilities as well, which has resulted in increasing numbers of basketball and volleyballs events.

The MAC Sports is one example. A 38,000 square foot multi-sports activity center in Lewisville, the MAC is home to many of the area’s volleyball and basketball tournaments. The MAC Sports features four hardwood NBA-regulation basketball courts and seven USA Volleyball regulation courts, as well as a full concession stand.

One of Lewisville’s newest and fastest-growing sports is lacrosse. The Lone Star Shootout brings teams from across the region, even from across the nation, to compete in an event so large that will use almost every inch of Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park.

“Lacrosse is new for us, and it’s an exciting market,” says Kunke. “Because we hadn’t done a lot of large lacrosse events, we had to figure out how to make it work. But that’s what we love to do. If somebody comes to us with an idea, we try to make it work. And we have a great team. Our park staff is absolutely the best.”

Lake Appeal
Lewisville is also home to several major fishing tournaments. Great fishing is one reason event owners choose Lewisville, but the area’s unique environment is another. Tucked into an urban setting, Lewisville Lake is one of the city’s most sought-after venues. Surrounded by 9,000 protected acres of nature, Lewisville Lake spans 29,000 acres and has 233 miles of shoreline. With an average depth of 25 feet, Lewisville Lake is large enough to host a multitude of activities such as fishing, water sports, boating, and miles of hike and bike trails.

Dubbed the “Urban Bass Fishing Capital of Texas,” Lewisville Lake is a Corps of Engineers reservoir that offers large-mouth bass, crappie, catfish, white bass and spectacular hybrid white/striped bass fishing.

In Lewisville, visitors get not only get true wilderness, but also the best facilities, all in one location. Along the south shore of Lewisville Lake lies one of the city's most picturesque parks, the 622-acre Lewisville Lake Park.

Lewisville Lake Park is divided into three major areas including the Athletic Complex, Lake Park Golf Course, and lake related uses. The Athletic Complex includes eight lighted soccer fields, eight lighted baseball fields and two lighted adult softball fields.

Anything you need
Proving their commitment to delivering exactly what their sports organizers need, Lewisville takes its service to the next level by also partnering with neighboring cities. The area’s hotels are in Lewisville, but if the ideal venue is in nearby Flower Mound, that’s exactly what the experts in Lewisville will recommend. Why would they do this? As Kunke explains it, “Our goal is to make sure every event is the best it can be and every event owner and athlete is beyond satisfied. They call it Texas hospitality for a reason.”

For more information about bringing your event to Lewisville, visit www.visitlewisville.com.