Illinois Main Street Conference starts today

8 months, 1 week ago by Jamie Busen

Quincy hosts the conference for the first time

The Historic Quincy Business District is getting ready to showcase its growth.

The 2012 Illinois Main Street State Conference kicks off Wednesday with a downtown development tour and an evening reception that includes exploring downtown Quincy businesses.

This is the first time Quincy will host the three-day event.

Travis Brown, executive director of the HQBD, said they are expecting about 150 people to attend. Those people are traveling to Quincy from all over the state, and include those who have an interest in downtown redevelopment.

Brown said the focus is economic development, though they will touch on topics including design, promotion, organization and sustainability.

"It's all about learning from best practices and to learn how to continue to make a difference in our communities," Brown said.

There are people interested in seeing the growth that downtown Quincy has been home to, and they will also share with their peers what works in their own cities.

In addition to events such as a private home tour, participants will be breaking out in sessions dealing with everything from grant writing to marketing.

There's an awards dinner at the Winter's West Wing on Thursday night, and on Friday several roundtable discussions will be held.

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