The 2025 Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference: Enlightening Missouri Main Street’s on the Power of Storytelling and Preservation
August 22, 2025 | Logan Breer
Representatives from communities of all sizes across Missouri attended the 2025 “Get Your Kicks on Main Street” Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference in St. Charles where they dove into the Main Street Approach™. The attendees learned about the vital connection between storytelling, community pride, attracting visitors, preserving local history, and stimulating their historic commercial districts local economy. Look at the ways they engaged with each other, historic preservation, storytelling, and the Main Street Approach™ during the conference.
The first day of Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference serves as the launching pad for Main Street staff and volunteers to catapult themselves into learning. Day One took place on Tuesday, July 22nd and offered a variety of afternoon programming, including a quarterly Directors’ Meeting, annual Support Staff Meeting, two concurrent educational tours, and a Board Leadership Deep Dive as well as an evening event. Attendees began learning about Main Street concepts and the power of a good story for cultivating a vibrant and thriving historic commercial district.
The two concurrent education tours included “Trailblazers and Timbers: Exploring Historic Saint Charles” and “Past Meets Future: Creativity and Innovation in Downtown St. Charles.” During the “Trailblazers and Timbers” tour, participants visited places steeped with rich history in St. Charles. Two of the stops were the First Missouri State Capitol and Lewis and Clark Boat House and Museum which stand as testaments for how local history attracts visitors and can shape the identity of the historic commercial district. In St. Charles they lean into their rustic history steeped in connections to adventure and resilience. During the “Past Meets Future tour”, participants discovered adaptive reuse developments that showcased the harmony of heritage, innovation, and creativity. The two stops on this tour, OPO Startups located in the Old Post Office Building and Foundry Arts Centre, have both been transformed into amazing spaces that allow entrepreneurs, remote workers, small businesses, and artists the space to collaborate. Together, these two educational tours allowed people to see firsthand the power of utilizing local heritage and historic buildings.
For the third year in a row, Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC) hosted a Deep Dive as part of Tuesday’s programing. This year the Deep Dive centered around board leadership. The “Board Leadership Deep Dive: Leading with Purpose – A Jeopardy-Style Guide to an Effective Main Street” was sponsored by Karen Bode Baxter. During the Deep Dive, Dr. Steven Hoffman and Norma Ramirez de Miess led an interactive professional development experience for Main Street board members to gain key insights about their role and the Main Street Approach™. This powerful duo led approximately 50 attendees through strategic thinking exercises, real-world scenarios, and best of all a Jeopardy-style game show! Attendees walked away from this Board Leadership Deep Dive equipped with the knowledge and skills to be more impactful in their local community gaining a clear understanding of governance, fundraising, and representative leadership.
To conclude the first day, the Evening Opening Reception, sponsored by Craftsmen Industries and Munibit, began at Craftsmen Industries. At Craftsmen attendees heard from Mark Steele the President and CEO of Craftsmen Industries. Attendees were then separated into groups and guided throughout their warehouse and office space where attendees learned about the creative promotions and business pop-up incubator solutions that Craftsmen’s team can create for Main Street. After the tour, attendees headed to the Odd Fellows Hall to mingle, enjoy appetizers, and participate in a “Find a Friend” networking activity. The “Find a Friend” activity featured a colorful map of Missouri where participants found friends new and old from Missouri counties that were different colors. We could feel the energy in the Odd Fellows Hall as attendees were connecting and engaging with each other.
On Wednesday, Missouri’s’ Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference entered Day Two starting with the Welcome & Opening Assembly. During the Welcome & Opening Assembly, Phil Eich, the Opening Keynote speaker, shared about the true strength of a community that is derived from its people and the stories that connect them during his keynote, “Once Upon a City: The Power of Community Storytelling”. His passion and experience as a storyteller inspired the crowd and set the stage for a great conference. We heard from our attendees that, “His story is amazing” and “All people want to be seen, heard, and made to feel important.” We are honored to have had him as our Opening Keynote and know that he inspired many to begin conversations with the people around them in their community to learn about their personal story.
Following the Welcome and Opening Assembly attendees started learning from a multitude of speakers on topics centered around Property Owners, Urban, and the Four Points of the Main Street Approach™: Design, Promotion, Organization, and Economic Vitality.
Some of the attendees were clear about which sessions were their favorites with the reviews we have received so far. The “Building a Creative Main Street District” session received high remarks as people were inspired by the history of signage in America and empowered by Dave and Ben’s story of how they brought neon back! Additionally, high remarks were given to Wednesday’s “Bridging the Past and Future: The St. Charles City Centre Complex and Main Street”, “Thinking Big as a Small Destination”, and “Historic Rehabilitation – Working with Historic Tax Credits” sessions.
For the fourth year in a row, MMSC awarded $10,000 to one lucky community as part of the Creative Space Activation Grant during the ShowMe Bash & Pitch Party, sponsored by Missouri Arts Council, Munibit, and Artificial Ice Events, LLC. Attendees brought the excitement of the conference to OPO Startups as three communities presented fantastic pitches. Salisbury Main Street took home $10,000 for their project as the winners for the 2025 Creative Space Activation Grant! Their application and pitch won over the judges and crowd. MMSC is excited to see how their project is implemented and the impact it will have on their district.
Thursday, July 24th was the final day of Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference. The day started with the General Session, “Choosing AI: Insights, Evaluation, Applications, and Best Practices for Every Organization” sponsored by BOLD Marketing. Dana Thomas presented AI solutions that will increase the capacity of Main Street programs through utilizing tools and software to optimize workflows and assist in brainstorming. We heard from our attendees about the sessions they attended on Thursday and how they were inspired to, “center their downtown strategy around one simple concept or Transformation Strategy” and “embrace the story and history of our community.”
Emmy Award Winning author John Drake Robinson gave the keynote address during the Closing Assembly, “A Road Trip through Missouri’s Main Streets” sponsored by Thompson Coburn, LLC. He shared with attendees why it is important to travel and connect with people, which inspired many to go plan a day trip somewhere in Missouri to R&D for their own community revitalization efforts and connect with people.
Following the conclusion of the conference’s Closing Assembly, community members enjoyed a celebratory finale where they celebrated their achievements, the achievements of others, and learned of projects, initiatives, and partnerships they could bring home to their historic commercial district. Like every year, this special evening recognizes the commitment that communities, businesses, Main Street programs, and individuals have to their district as well as the achievements of Main Street revitalization. MMSC presented 23 awards during the Evening of Excellence Awards Ceremony & Dinner. Check out the News page on our website to see all the awards MMSC awarded during the Evening of Excellence Awards Ceremony.
MMSC is excited to see you in 2026!
1 thought on “The 2025 Missouri’s Premier Downtown Revitalization Conference: Enlightening Missouri Main Street’s on the Power of Storytelling and Preservation”
Great conference, thank you MMSC!
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