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8th Annual Maine Downtown
Conference
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Downtowns Rule: Measures to Getting it
Right
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The 8th
Annual Maine Downtown Conference was a huge success! Hundreds converged
in downtown Biddeford despite the intermittent rain!
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Did you misplace your
evaluation sheet? Please click here to download the Word
document that can then be emailed to lmerrill@mdf.org
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Notable Highlights:
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§ The day started at
Biddeford’s historic and majestic City Theater with a warm welcome from Maine
Development Foundation President and CEO, Laurie Lachance, Mayor Joanne
Twomey and Major Conference Sponsor, Bangor Savings Bank Executive Vice
President and Chief Banking Officer, John Edwards.
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Donovan Rypkema
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§ Nationally acclaimed
keynote speaker, Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics in Washington,
D.C., spoke about the extreme importance of historic preservation. His words,
humor and examples were poignant and thought provoking. To view or download
the Keynote Speech, please click here.
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Todd Barman
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§ There were 15 workshops
held throughout the day touching on various downtown revitalization topics.
Workshops included: Legislative round-up, discussion on mill redevelopment,
mill tours, funding mechanisms and historic preservation. Todd Barman from
the National Main Street Center spoke on business retention and market
analysis. To view or download the workshop presentations, please click here. We will be adding
presentations as we receive them, so please check back if you don’t see the
one you were looking for!
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Noreen Norton, Eaton Peabody
Consulting Group, LLC
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§ The
Downtown Achievement Awards were presented during the luncheon. More than 17
awards were given to over 33 people! For more information on the awards
please click here.
Congratulations to all of our very deserving winners!
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§ A new Main Street Maine
community will be brought on in the spring of 2009! Mandatory
application workshops will be held in the fall (more details to come).
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Commissioner John Richardson, DECD
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§ The day came to a close
with a fantastic reception at the North Dam Mill. Department of Economic and
Community Development Commissioner, John Richardson, thanked all for their
dedication to downtown revitalization and recognized the tremendous
importance of saving our historic downtowns. With that, he announced a
$150,000 two-year commitment to the Maine Downtown Center from CDBG
funds. This money will allow the Center to help many more downtowns
throughout the state interested in downtown revitalization! The Center
is currently developing a program to help non-Main Street Maine communities,
which will be unveiled in the fall, so stay tuned for more details!
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A Challenge to All Downtowns – Long time Maine Downtown Center
Advisory Council member, Bill King, issued a challenge! The town with
the most registrants will receive $250 for their downtown program! He is
giving $250 to two towns: One Main Street Maine Community and one non-Main
Street Maine Community.
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The winners of this challenge are
the City of Portland, with the funds going to the Portland Downtown District, and Saco Spirit, a Main Street Maine community. Congratulations!!
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Major Conference Sponsor
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Workshop Session Sponsors
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