Eight Reasons to Attend the 2025 Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference
4/24/25 | Logan Breer
Every year, Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) brings a growing number of people together for Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference. We are now closing in on the 2025 conference, “Get Your Kicks on Main Street,” as it is a few months away. Hear from past attendees about their top eight reasons you should attend MMSC’s state conference this year.
1. Connecting and Networking with Passionate People
Tyler King, the Executive Director of Downtown Washington, Inc., regularly attends Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference to learn from others’ successes and challenges, strengthening his ability to implement the Main Street Approach™ in innovative ways for the growth and success of Downtown Washington. Tyler shared, “The conference provides the perfect opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, explore proven revitalization strategies, and bring fresh, actionable ideas back to my own community.” After spending three days connecting with people who are dedicated to making Missouri’s downtown areas more vibrant, welcoming, and economically strong, attendees have the downtown development strategies, practical tools, and resources their historic commercial district needs for economic and cultural growth. Tyler shared that his three takeaways from last year’s conference were:
- Collaboration is key. Successful revitalization happens when local government, businesses, and residents work together.
- Small, incremental changes such as activating vacant spaces, enhancing walkability, or integrating small- and large-scale projects—can create a lasting impact over time.
- Storytelling is powerful. Branding and shaping each downtown as a destination requires crafting a compelling narrative that emotionally connects people to the place.
2. Investing in Your Growth and Community’s Future
Maggie Burgin, a support staff employee of Warrensburg Main Street, attended her second Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference with eager anticipation for expanding her connections within MMSC’s network of 50+ designated Main Street communities, many with support staff as well, and gaining a new understanding from the conference speakers to enhance her role and organization. That is exactly what she achieved last year during “Foundations to Futures,” as she shared, “Through the conference sessions, discussions with attendees, events, and site visits, I gained so much inspiration, many fresh perspectives, and big-time motivation.” Investing in yourself by attending Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference is the best return on investment you and your Main Street can make. Each year, the conference is packed with amazing speakers who facilitate insightful sessions that increase your efficiency in your role and improve your organization’s implementation of projects and programs. Maggie shared that a couple of her favorite sessions were:
- Bernice Radle’s “Creative Incremental Development Strategies for Main Street”.
- Catt Fields White and Christopher Quinlan’s “Producing Profitable Promotions”.
3. Getting to See the Main Street Big Picture
Kristina Kosiorek, a support staff employee of Downtown Joplin Alliance, attends Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference each year, with the rest of the Downtown Joplin Alliance team, to refocus on what’s important and not lose sight of the bigger picture when the job gets difficult. Kristina shared her memory of her first conference, “It was only my third week on the job! It was a great crash course into what Main Street it, and it really motivated me to get back to my community.” Excitement and passion, like Kristina experienced, are exactly the types of energy needed to do the amazing things that Main Street does, yet they can also lead to burnout and disappointment when challenges arise. This is where the beauty of Missouri’s Main Street network shines. When our network comes together, people share and validate each other’s unique challenges that Main Street programs experience. As Main Street staff and volunteers, they are in the same boat, unlike most other nonprofits which cannot relate to many of the unique aspects of Main Street. Many times, this validation looks like lending a listening ear, rallying around a colleague who needs encouragement, or being an advisor whose outside perspective can help a colleague refocus on what’s important. This forms the basis of the Main Street camaraderie that strengthens and refreshes our network, as Kristina has experienced and shared,
“This work is all about incremental change. With always having plenty of work to do, it is easy to get lost in the steps and processes, but there is help & support from other Main Street communities and from our state & national partners to look ahead at the bigger picture of our historic commercial districts being vibrant and thriving.”
4. Learning New Strategies for Implementing the Main Street Approach™
Jeffrey Martin and Abbie Backes, My Hometown Carrollton volunteers, deepened their understanding regarding the local economic growth, community development, and specific projects that are possible through implementing the Main Street Approach™.
Jeffrey shared, “I was particularly impressed by the innovative strategies shared by various speakers, showcasing successful revitalization projects that have transformed struggling downtowns into vibrant hubs of activity.”
Abbie added to this by stating, “The information presented in the sessions about Farmer’s Market and pocket parks will definitely be used to help our town in the near future. We now have step-by-step action plans, detailed examples, and referral contacts to work from.”
Knowledge is truly powerful as it equips recipients with the practical tools and actionable insights to implement initiatives and projects that move the organization forward in attaining its Transformation Strategies and goals. When you attend the Opening Assembly, General Session, and breakout sessions at this year’s Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference, you will leave inspired and with the skills you need to improve your local community.
5. Fresh Perspectives
Patrick Kleffner and Colleen Barnhart, Vienna Main Street volunteers, were in two different attendee categories when they attended last year’s Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference, as Patrick was a first-time attendee and Colleen was a seasoned attendee. Each learned new things that were either personally significant or relevant to their community. Patrick shared that one of the things he learned was, “how widespread the housing shortage was and that it is prevalent in most areas. This is something that we need to address in our town as well to attract more people back to downtown.” For Colleen, her takeaway was a bit more personal as she shared, “There is a way to record the lost history of buildings or spaces around the square in Vienna, which is a dream of mine. I feel it would be of interest to the young and old alike.” These two lessons learned are only the tip of the iceberg of what can be learned during our annual state conference, including historic preservation and funding opportunities. Each of our speakers brings their own perspective and processes for how to accomplish the work of Main Street, enriching attendees, of all experiences, with a wealth of information that can be applied locally.
6. Access to Main Street Thought Leaders
Sherry Wright, a Salisbury Main Street volunteer, engaged with the thought leaders who gathered at last year’s conference to present and attend. Not only do conference speakers present their sessions, but many of them stick around for the day or week and attend other sessions and network with other attendees. Sherry shared,
“I spoke with Caitlin Yager, who was the speaker of the “Telling Your Community’s Story with Missouri Humanities” Crash Course, about Salisbury’s theater group that puts on a couple of plays each year. Caitlin provided some ideas/grants that could help with the theater group’s need for a building to present as well as store costumes, set pieces, and more. We also exchanged contact information.”
What a connection made during the state conference, and this is just one of many connections made through personal interactions with speakers. Additionally, many use the breaks between sessions and the Q&A time to get advice and answers from Main Street’s top minds. Sessions like “Producing Profitable Promotions” and “What Would You Do?” inspired attendees with a wealth of information that small communities like Salisbury, with a population of roughly 1,600, and bigger communities like Cape Girardeau, with a population of over 40,00,0 can relate to and take-home nuggets from the minds of the speakers.
7. Fun and Team Building
Becky Cleveland and Fran Graff, Main Street Brookfield volunteers, were two of four attendees from Brookfield. They came as a group and strategically selected separate sessions to attend so they could bring back as much information to their local Main Street as possible—what a team! The fun for conference attendees definitely starts in the morning with conference sessions and continues throughout each night with the ticketed events that include the Evening Opening Reception, ShowMe Bash and Pitch Party, and Evening of Excellence Awards Ceremony and Dinner. Fran remarked about the ShowMe Bash and Evening of Excellence, “They were unforgettable experiences!” Main Street Brookfield was a finalist for the Creative Space Activation Grant and had additional members from their community present at the ShowMe Bash Pitch Party to pitch their project to judges and the audience. Their phenomenal pitch a rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin’” won them the $10,000 grant to implement their downtown placemaking project to bring to life an underutilized space in their community. The next evening, on Thursday, the City of Brookfield would win the Premier Partner, Affiliate Tier award for their partnership with Main Street Brookfield’s Façade Grant program. Main Street Brookfield was there to cheer on their partner and accept the award alongside them.
8. Professional Development
Taylor Moore, Preservation Planner for the City of St. Charles, is an annual conference attendee going back to his first conference in 2019 when he was a student volunteer. Taylor now comes to the conference as a city staff and preservation professional. He shared his mindset he used when preparing to attend MMSC’s conference every year,
“What I hope to get out of attending the conference each year is an opportunity to learn how other communities across Missouri are activating their historic districts and creating spaces that are vibrant and welcoming to both residents and visitors. There are always valuable takeaways spanning from community outreach strategies, creative marketing ideas, to innovation tools for revitalization.”
Each year, there are fantastic sessions that allow attendees to develop professional skills in various disciplines. For example, last year, community members from Cape Girardeau presented “Preservation Theatrics: Saving and Transforming the Broadway Theater,” which showcased the adaptive reuse of the Broadway Theater in Cape Girardeau. Taylor shared that, “as a former Historic Preservation student at Southeast Missouri State University, it was so exciting to see a historic structure in Cape, one that was once vacant and in danger of demolition, be saved and given a new purpose.”
Even the locations selected by MMSC serve to teach attendees lessons on adaptive reuse, such as last year’s ShowMe Bash and Pitch Party at J. Rieger & Co., a fantastic example of the potential life of historic structures.
Now, how can you not attend the 2025 Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference after hearing from past attendees their reasons for attending for the first time and annually? You can learn more about this year’s conference on our website: www.momainstreetconference.com.
TLDR:
Eight Reasons Why You Should Attend Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference Condensed
- Connecting and Networking with Passionate People
- Investing in Your Growth and Community’s Future
- Getting to See the Main Street Big Picture
- Learning New Strategies for Implementing the Main Street Approach™
- Fresh Perspectives
- Access to Main Street Thought Leaders
- Fun and Team Building
- Professional Development
Attend the 2025 Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference!
