Great Wolf is on the prowl for a cut of the Northern California — as well as the 209 — meeting and event business.

But Great Wolf isn’t the only events center in Manteca that will be jockeying for celebratory events, business gatherings, and cultural events on a large scale throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley as well as the Bay Area and Sacramento.

The Veranda in downtown Manteca is nearing its opening on the former Kelley Brothers Brewing Co. that was originally the El Rey Theatre.

The two join The Emory as well as MRPS and the FESM that each has two social/banquet/dance halls in downtown Manteca. Prior to the pandemic both the FESM and MRPS halls were booked virtually every weekend from wedding receptions and fundraisers to dances and comedy shows

The 500-room Great Wolf hotel and indoor waterpark in conjunction with the Manteca Chamber of Commerce is staging a six chamber mixer on Thursday, Oct. 14, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the resort’s events center to showcase their facilities.

The mixer also involves members from the Ripon, Modesto, Lodi, Tracy and San Joaquin Hispanic chambers.

The $180 million resort offers a dividable ballroom, three breakout rooms, and an outdoor pavilion. The resort offers complete catering services onsite.

The 3,682 square-foot ballroom has maximum capacities of 396 for banquets, 204 for classrooms, 409 for theater seating, and 105 for U-shape seating.

There is a 696 square-foot Fallen Timbers Room plus a pair of 637 square-foot rooms known as Red Oak and Eagles Landing. The Fallen Timbers room has capacities of 58 for banquets, 38 for classroom, 75 for theater, and 19 for U-shape seating.

That is in addition to a 2,057-square-foot covered outdoor pavilion capable of accommodating 171 in a banquet setting or 228 in theater arrangement.

Great Wolf has already booked a local event - the 11th annual Wine, Chocolate, & Art event benefiting the Manteca-Ripon-Escalon Council of the United Way of San Joaquin County on Thursday, Sept. 16, starting at 5:30 p.m.

In the past the event had been held lakeside at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley in front of the 16-screen theater.

You can text WINE to 40403 to purchase tickets for $30 each or go to the United Way of San Joaquin website.

Jose Hernandez, the first migrant farm worker to become a NASA astronaut, will be at the event serving his wine he is  making through his Lodi-based Tierra Luna Cellars.

While Great Wolf is likely to peel off some more local-based fundraisers, it is just a tad smaller than what many large fundraisers such as nearly a dozen non-profits use for crab feeds that typically sell between 450 and 500 tickets. Such events take place almost exclusively at the MRPS and FESM halls.

The Veranda — whose operator already has an established clientele of people that uses their services to coordinate celebrations and events at various rented venues - is aimed at the same markets to draw from as Great Wolf.

The downtown events center has a ballroom with a capacity of 600, the Vernada room that can accommodate 250 and Terrace setting that can handle 300 people.

The Veranda has an on-site commercial kitchen for catering served. But unlike Great Wolf, their cuisine offering will be much wider including authentic Indian, Mexican, Italian, Persian, and American.

In terms of ambiance, Great Wolf is pretty straight forward. The Veranda was designed with elegance in mind.

Great Wolf has a long-standing relationship with Universal Cheerleaders Association to host competitions at various resort sites that have the outdoor pavilion.

The Great Wolf location — just like the Vernada — is at the center of more than 900,000 people within a 30-minute drive between Modesto, Stockton, Tracy, and nearby communities.

They are both at the midway point between San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento that mark the edges of a triangle with nearly 18 million people.

Given Great Wolf’s location on the 120 Bypass it could successfully tap into the business trade that requires in-person meetings that bring together people scattered across the NorCal metroplex.

Great Wolf, once pandemic rules will allow it, also will roll out a kids’ birthday party room for rent. When coupled with the family entertainment zone that features a variety of amusements such as a rope course, bowling, arcade games, and more it offers an alternative to Chuck E. Cheese and such venues when it comes to commercial birthday party sites.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com