Illinois Main Street

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THANK YOU! so much for your participation in the 2024 Illinois Main Street Conference – your engagement during sessions, connections at special events, and enthusiasm during our Better Block Build made the conference this year a huge success. ?? Batavia played a great host and the Team at Batavia Mainstreet did a phenomenal job helping make this what some have dubbed, "The Best Illinois Main Street Conference Ever!" ?? Event photography by the talented?April Duda Photography Let us know how we did! Take the 2024 Illinois Main Street Conference?survey. ?? https://lnkd.in/g8CuKUqX ? Save the Date:?Mark your calendars for the 2025 Illinois Main Street Conference on November 12-14, 2025. Thank you again and we hope to see you next year!

I was proud to attend the 2024 Illinois Main Street conference in Batavia and present the Lt. Governor Awards for Excellence in Revitalization. Main Street communities showcase the best of small businesses, revitalize downtowns and further economic development in our state. Thank you! Learn more about Illinois Main Streets: bit.ly/4hGNj9z

Inspiration achieved at Illinois Main Street conference with passion, dedication and action happening for community and business development!! People and Organizations enhancing the ecosystem - just incredible!!

Reflecting on last week's Illinois Main Street - what a great event! Every session was packed with actionable ideas that attendees could take back to their communities and implement immediately. I’m still going through my notes! A big shoutout to Erik Reader and his team for curating such an impactful lineup of speakers and topics. Thanks to Beth Walker and the amazing Batavia MainStreet team for hosting such a fantastic event. We know it was a huge lift! We loved the venues that were used for sessions around downtown Batavia. It added so much to the conference. Leigh Ann Brown and I had the privilege of presenting on creating a pipeline of microbusinesses to fill Main Street storefronts at a great comedy club venue. It was awesome to learn how many communities are already supporting microbusinesses—often without even realizing it. Hopefully, we gave insight into how to make that support part of a larger effort. Another highlight of the conference was spending time with ??Deb Brown and Jaime Izurieta. The work these two do really inspires us. Their sessions left everyone motivated and ready to take bold action in their communities and with their downtown storefronts. Were you at the conference? What was your biggest takeaway from the conference? Share your insights below! ??

We are thrilled to share that two of our projects received Lt. Governor Awards for Excellence in Revitalization at the Illinois Main Street Conference last week in Batavia, Illinois. Sequoit Creek Park in Downtown Antioch, Illinois, was recognized for its transformative impact on the downtown area. Morgan Chapman, PLA, Senior Landscape Architect at The Lakota Group, joined Kim Biederman, Business Liaison for the Village Of Antioch, to accept the award. Vision Clark Street Corridor Plan in Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois, was also honored for its excellence in initiating local area investment. Siraj Asfahani, Vice President at The Lakota Group, accepted the award alongside the Rogers Park Business Alliance. Congrats to all the award recipients – it’s an honor to celebrate among such special projects and people helping shape the future of Illinois Main Street communities!?

You never know how a conference is going to go or what to expect. Two things came from this one: 1. Batavia, Illinois is adorable and I will be referencing their Boardwalk Shops initiative for years to come; 2. Wikiblock builds will always go faster than I think. I so appreciate Erik Reader for inviting us out and going along with the concept of building signage as part of the conference. It was fun to learn alongside folks and then work alongside them.

We wrapped up the 2024 Illinois Main Street Conferece yesterday not with just inspiring attendees, but putting them to work! ?? Why just sit there when you could be doing a Better Block Foundation build to help with wayfinding around downtown Batavia?! Some cool Batavia signage was put together and placed at key areas to create connectivity. ???We also finished out strong before heading outside with valuable content on development, entrepreneurship, advocacy, branding, workforce development, and more. ?? It was a great week in Batavia with Team Batavia Mainstreet and we hope this really got the downtown revitalization juices going to take action in your own community. #preservation #placemaking #smallbusiness #development

What in the world is the Showtime on Main concept? You had to be there, but I’ll try to explain. This has been a special week. Thanks to a nudge by Erik Reader I applied to give a talk at the Illinois Main Street conference that went on in Batavia IL this week. I got accepted by offering to discuss the next frontier for downtowns that have achieved the goals of building up their brand, rehabbing buildings, keeping shops running with low vacancies, and entrepreneurs and visitors flocking into town. Maintaining that status is hard, and shifting to an executive producer role with businesses as partners and a great, fun, unforgettable play performed daily in downtown can be the next frontier. The Showtime on Main idea got some traction and some great conversations started. I am very grateful to Batavia MainStreet for hosting us and happy to be able to share some of the lessons I have learned with Storefrontmastery.com along the way. I also got to meet the great ??Deb Brown and see Marci Goodwin again, which was a real treat.

Shout out to Erik Reader and the rock star duo, Beth and Kristen with Batavia MainStreet for an outstanding Illinois Main Street Conference in the City of Batavia Illinois! It was great to be “home” and spend time with so many passionate Main Streeters doing fantastic things for their communities ?? Always thankful for the support of Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton and her team to help build capacity of neighborhood districts and historic downtowns across the state. I’m especially proud we recognized a number of people who give their time and talents (often behind the scenes) as well as the programs that bring vitality to Main Street communities statewide. Even had our Quincy contingency there with Maggie Strong presenting on moving “Ideas to Action” (true Main Street way!) along with Brie and Bret. Love my job and my team. Thanks for being there, supporting IMS and representing Main Street America! Dionne, Kelly, Hannah.