WELCOME TO THE 2012 HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONFERENCE 

Our Towns: Partnering Regionally, Preserving Locally 

General Information

Preservation Kentucky and the Kentucky Heritage Council are pleased to announce that the 2012 Historic Preservation Conference will be headquartered in Princeton, Kentucky (Caldwell Co) from Thursday, September 20 through Saturday, September 22.  The 2012 conference is the first Kentucky Historic Preservation Conference to be held outside a larger metropolitan area, and the first to feature a regional approach. 

This year's theme, "Our Towns: Partnering Regionally, Preserving Locally," reflects the regional approach to the conference taken by our Western Kentucky Lakes Region partners of Eddyville/Kuttawa, Dawson Springs, and Princeton, as well as the need for all of us to work together to revitalize and maintain our towns and neighborhoods through preservation strategies.  

The 2012 conference will feature hands-on training opportunities; educational sessions on revolving loans funds, nonprofit management, planning, and issues related to small towns; as well as meetings of the Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board, the Kentucky Main Street Program, the Kentucky Heritage Council Board, and the Preservation Kentucky Board.  An opening night reception will be held on Thursday, September 20 and preliminary plans are being made for a Historic Preservation Film Festival on Friday, September 21.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE & REGISTRATION ARE AVAILABLE HERE!

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE AVAILABLE HERE

Conference News and Updates

The official conference schedule is available here.  REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE NOW.  In the meantime, you will be pleased to know that planning is going exceptionally well.  Highlights include:

Special Guest Speakers

• Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham, author of On Bended Knees: The Night Rider Story, Castle: The Story of a Kentucky Prison, and other titles focusing on the history of the region

• Art Jackson, Director of the Small Towns Economic Prosperity (STEPS) initiative for the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center Inc.

• Donovan Rypkema, economist and principal of PlaceEconomics, Washington, D.C., who will discuss his new report “Historic Preservation and Right Sizing”

• Jane Turville, producer of the award-winning movie The Greenest Building

PLUS:

• Sessions on best practices for preserving endangered historic sites, converting schools and other public buildings into affordable housing, preservation advocacy, grant writing and nonprofit management, form-based codes, revolving funds, preserving endangered historic places, Certified Local Governments & local preservation ordinances, earthquake retrofitting, and brownfields redevelopment

• Resources for community and economic revitalization

• Workshop for Real Estate Professionals on Marketing Historic Properties

• Workshop on Cemetery Preservation

• Educational Sessions on Cultural Arts Districts, creating a meaningful public education event, the Kentucky Trail Towns program, leveraging regional strategies for Main Street 

• Extended tracks on the Civil War and Preservation 101

• Hands-on demonstrations and preservation training at the Practical Preservation Showcase

• Conference bookstore

• Regional tours (ticketed):

- Mantle Rock Archaeology Tour  

- Dawson Springs Tour

- Land of Lakes Tour

- Downtown Walking Tour of Princeton

Registration also includes:

-A gala opening night reception on the grounds of a privately owned historic home & candlelight tours of Adsmore House and Gardens and other downtown locations

-Friday and Saturday lunch sessions

-Practical Preservation Showcase with an outdoor demonstration area for wood window repair and stone masonry techniques, a hands-on archaeology demonstration on Saturday, financing historic properties, and other preservation tools

-A Friday night Fish Fry with music by Princeton’s own Eddie Pennington, widely recognized as one of the greatest living thumbstyle guitarist--a sound popularized by Kentucky native Merle Travis in the 1940s. Ticketed event.  

-A showing of The Greenest Building at the historic Capitol Theatre, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Jane Turville and economist Donovan Rypkema. Ticketed event.

Registration

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS & REGISTRATION AVAILABLE HERE!

Online registration will be available until Wednesday, September 19th at 12 noon. If you register after that time, you must do so in person at the Princeton Welcome Center at 206 East Market Street in Princeton, KY.  Please note that registration will increase after Friday, August 31st. Register before that time to get a discounted rate!!

The conference registration form can also be printed out and mailed with payment to Preservation Kentucky at 306 West Main Street, Suite 501 Frankfort, Kentucky 40601.

Lodging and Tourism Information

Book your hotel room today!  Hotels are located within downtown Princeton as well as Dawson Springs and Eddyville, both within a short drive of downtown Princeton.  Reserve your room by Friday, August 31, 2012 for special conference rates.