Just wondering if anyone has attended the Main Street Conference in the past and what they have thought of it??? I was considering attending this year since for two reasons; it's in my hometown of Chicago and will give me a chance to go home, and the town I am currently interning in is working on developing a main street. However, the town only has a population of just under 1,000 and contains an extremely small downtown. Thanks for any input
I attended in 2001 when it was held in Indy, while in my Master's program. I was doing a report on the org, met with many folks whom I found interesting and very much enjoyed the entire experience. If you have an interest in the matter, which I assume you do, then by all means I say go!
BTW: many cities in the program are small. My report was on the program in Mississippi, and I later visited places like Port Gibson, which had a nice program and has pop in the 1000s. http://www.msmainstreet.com/communities.html
"Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even though they rarely stick to their plan." - Winston Churchill
I haven't attended for a few years, but attended annually in the late 90's and early 00's and found it to be one of the absolutely best conferences - better than APA, better than state planning conferences. They have top notch speakers, great venues, creative and fun group evening events, and the conferences are extremely well organized. They also take care to screen presenters, so you don't get boring people making presentations on topics they know nothing about. I always left the conferences enthused about my job and pleased with the conference.
It's all about downtown development and historic preservation -- not much about planning, usually.
I'm in the Chicago area and I plan to go this year and bring my community's downtown folks with me.
Amy, just curious where your located at? I have lots of family on the southside, and grew up and still live about 60 miles NW of the city though I am out in Oregon for school and for a 1 year AmeriCorps job.
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