City of Goldsboro to host Main Street Conference
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 11, 2016 1:46 PM
Roughly 550 community leaders from around North Carolina will converge on downtown Goldsboro for three days from March 16 to 18 as Goldsboro hosts the North Carolina Main Street Conference.
City managers, city planners, elected officials, downtown board members, investors and developers will come to the city from all around the state.
"This is a way for us to showcase Goldsboro from the perspective of community leaders and show all the great work that has been done downtown throughout the past several years and showcase the opportunities that still exist downtown," said Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Director Julie Metz.
The conference will kick off at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 16, with a tour of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base that is limited to the first 260 people that register for the conference.
Registration for the conference will be at the Paramount Theatre at 139 S. Center St., and attendees will register as they arrive.
The 100 block of South Center Street will be closed for the duration of the conference. There will also be a large tent outside of the Paramount Theatre where various vendors will be located.
Following the tour of SJAFB, attendees will have a choice of three separate workshops to participate in, which are Main Street Solutions Fund Application Workshop, a Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Workshop and a session discussing the new North Carolina state brand, "Nothing Compares."
From 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, conference-goers will have lunch on their own, which gives downtown businesses that are open for lunch, such as Ed's Southern Food and Spirits, The Laughing Owl, Chef Herb's Bistro, Jay's Southern Food and Spirits, B&G Grill and Torero's Family Mexican Restaurant a chance to impress an influx of new customers.
The conference will officially open at 12 p.m. on March 16, and opening remarks will be provided by Liz Parham, the director of the North Carolina Main Street Center.
Following the opening remarks, a panel discussion will be held on how main streets in North Carolina communities are an integral part of the economy and cultural development throughout the state.
On the first day of the conference, the break out sessions will feature five topics of discussion.
Ms. Metz and City Manager Scott Stevens will run one of the sessions, titled "Planning Gets You Money: Guiding the Implementation of a Shared Vision."
This session will be to discuss Goldsboro's experience with completing its downtown Streetscape project, which saw $20 million in investment on public infrastructure.
The second session being offered during this time is called "Art is SmART," where attendees will learn how art plays a role in a community's identity and economy.
This session will be moderated by Sarah Merritt, the executive director of the Arts Council of Wayne County; Jenny Moore, executive director of the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum; Geraldine Plato, creative community builder and principal of Plato Strategies; and Nancy Trovillion, deputy director of the North Carolina Arts Council.
One of the sessions being offered on March 16 is called "Lessons Learned from Main Street," where a team of so-called "downtown gurus" will host a panel discussion on lessons learned from experiences with downtown redevelopment.
The fourth breakout session option is about filling large abandoned buildings in downtown areas.
The fifth breakout session option is called "Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Main Street."
Tours of Goldsboro will be also be held where attendees will see the Goldsboro-Wayne Transit Authority transfer center, historic churches and unique and large buildings in downtown.
The conference will resume on Thursday morning with a keynote address from Pamela Herrmann, president of The Paragon Effect, from 8:45 to 10 a.m.
The keynote address on Thursday will center on how the success of small businesses rests on entrepreneurial readiness and how business owners can track key metrics to ensure they are hitting all the right numbers to ensure their success.
The second day of the conference will be filled with break out sessions, as well, with an extended lunch break on Thursday where attendees will have time to take a break and play cornhole, hosted and provided by Goldsboro Parks and Recreation.
The afternoon sessions will continue from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
The first session being offered will be hosted by Ms. Metz, Fred Rash, a senior project manager with The Wooten Company, and Allison Platt, of Allison Platt and Associates, which will focus on the Streetscape process that changed the face of downtown Goldsboro.
The second session being offered will focus on how people can encourage upper-level residential development in their downtowns.
The third session will break down how legislature operates form the local to state level and how attendees can work directly with their legislators to get downtown projects done.
The fourth session will offer advice on how to open a business in a downtown area.
The final session being offered will focus on how to sell and market a downtown so people want to come to it. It is focused on who organizations and cities should be trying to attract to their downtowns, and selling people on what their local downtown areas have to offer.
Thursday evening, more tours of Goldsboro will be offered, where attendees will tour upper-story apartments in downtown Goldsboro, view "cool projects" such as decorated alleyways and other unique downtown attractions, and walk through the areas affected by Streetscape.
At 6 p.m. Thursday night, the Paramount Theatre will host the annual North Carolina Main Street Awards Buffet Dinner and Ceremony.
Following that, downtown Goldsboro will get a little rowdy as the Shamrock Shuffle kicks off at 8:45 p.m. and runs until midnight, where participants will bar crawl their way through downtown. The event is hosted by The Flying Shamrock.
On Friday, March 18, the final day of the conference, attendees will attend the 2015 honor Roll of Main Street Champions ceremony at the Paramount Theatre and at noon the conference will adjourn, and the 100 block of South Center Street will reopen.