Soulard, St. Louis, MOA historic market neighborhood south of downtown, useful for hospitality bookings and off-limits for anything needing a loading dock.

Soulard grew up around its farmers market, one of the oldest public markets still operating in the country, and around the Anheuser-Busch brewery whose historic buildings still stand at the neighborhood's southern edge.

The streets are narrow, brick-lined, and residential in scale, which is exactly what gives the neighborhood its character and exactly why it isn't a candidate for exhibit-hall logistics.

It sits close enough to I-55 and I-44 that a dinner reservation or brewery tour fits neatly into an evening without eating into a full travel block, and close enough to downtown that a group can be there and back before a late show-night curfew.

The neighborhood is also known for one of the largest Mardi Gras celebrations in the country outside New Orleans, a reminder that Soulard's identity was built well before any convention calendar existed and runs on its own civic rhythm rather than the exhibit-hall schedule downtown.