Main Street Program Fall Conference Begins Today

The Kentucky Main Street Program (KYMS) Fall Conference convenes this week in Western Kentucky and showcases historic buildings and successful rehabilitation and downtown revitalization projects in Paducah, Murray, Cadiz, Princeton and Guthrie.

Lake Barkley State Resort Park will host the meeting, which draws local KYMS directors and board members from across the Commonwealth.
“Just as we did last year in Eastern Kentucky, the goal of this year’s conference is to share best practices with one another and learn about all the great things taking place in the western part of the state,” said Kitty Dougoud, Kentucky Main Street Program administrator. “We have a wonderful and diverse network of Main Street communities, each with unique characteristics that provide great educational opportunities to see our Main Street trainings in action.”

The conference gets underway Tuesday afternoon with updates from the state program and a communal celebration of Covington’s Great American Main Street Award, presented earlier this year by Main Street America.

Wednesday, the group will travel to Paducah for a tour of three properties successfully utilizing rehabilitation tax credits: the 1857 Hotel, Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, and Paducah City Hall. State and federal rehab tax credit programs are also administered by the Kentucky Heritage Council.
A tour of Murray Main Street will take place Wednesday afternoon, followed by a boat ride on Lake Barkley. Thursday, participants will meet at the Renaissance Center in Cadiz and tour the Janice Mason Art Museum, a community arts center located in a historic, WPA-era, Colonial Revival Post Office building on Cadiz Main Street. 

Thursday afternoon, the meeting will move to the historic Princeton Tourism Center, a converted Christian church, and will include presentations about the award-winning Paint Your Town initiative, which has been widely emulated in other Kentucky communities.