2024 Main Street Now Conference


Main Street Now 2024

Birmingham, Alabama

Join us in Birmingham, Alabama, for the 2024 Main Street Now Conference from May 6-8! Save the date to join fellow commercial district revitalization leaders from across the country for three days of education sessions, special events, mobile workshops, and opportunities to explore "The Magic City." From downtowns in rural places to commercial corridors in cities, the Main Street Now Conference offers time-tested approaches and new techniques to address pressing issues to help your community thrive.

Registration

Conference registration is available to commercial district revitalization practitioners, civic leaders, and students. Registration is expected to open in January 2024. Please see below for registration rates and deadlines.

Early Bird (by March 11*): $465 Member | $635 Non-Member
Regular (by April 26*): $565 Member | $735 Non-Member
On-Site: $775 Member, Non-Member
One Day: $399
Student: $200
Civic Leader: $199

*Deadlines are subject to change.

Location

Conference accommodations and sessions will take place at the Sheraton Birmingham and Westin Birmingham hotels. Group registration is scheduled to open in January 2024. Please see below for details. 

Sheraton Birmingham Group Rate: $200*
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Westin Birmingham Group Rate: $205*
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*Plus taxes and fees; subject to change.

Known as The Magic City, Birmingham offers a unique host city experience, including opportunities to visit and learn from vibrant metropolitan commercial corridors and dynamic rural Main Streets in nearby towns. 

Between sessions, enjoy local shops, eateries, and attractions in downtown Birmingham and the Historic 4th Avenue Business District. Come early or extend your stay to explore dynamic Main Streets in nearby towns and the city’s vibrant arts, culture, and heritage, from historic architecture to monuments dedicated to the American Civil Rights Movement, metalwork manufacturing industry, and music icons.

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Opportunities

Sponsorship

Sponsoring the Main Street Now Conference is a highly visible, cost effective way to reach community leaders and partners as they foster new ideas and solutions for preservation-based economic development in their historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. Sponsor packages provide partners with the opportunity to demonstrate leadership through programming and promotions, connect directly with local decisionmakers, and support communities on their path to economic revitalization. 

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Questions? Contact Katie Eckstein at keckstein@mainstreet.org

Exhibition Hall

The Main Street Now Expo offers a variety of promotional opportunities for companies specializing in products, services, and resources designed to assist downtown and commercial district management professionals take their efforts to the next level. The hall will be located in the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and the show is expected to run May 7-8, 2024, with set-up on May 6, 2024, and breakdown the afternoon of May 8, 2024. Booth registration is expected to open in January 2024.

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Questions? Contact Steve Amraen at samraen@mainstreet.org

Conference Themes

Welcoming & Belonging

Welcoming and belonging strategies help build bridges between new and existing residents, business owners, visitors, and other stakeholders to create stronger bonds within communities. Successful Main Streets foster a sense of community ownership for each resident by ensuring equal access to, and a role in, downtown for people from all backgrounds, including incomes, ages, races, and abilities. Whether it’s welcoming new neighbors, championing strategies to prevent gentrification or displacement, adopting immigrant-friendly policies, or creating space for group expression, Main Street organizations are well-positioned to advance these principles and strengthen their districts’ social, civic, and economic fabric.

Connectivity through Civic Infrastructure

Civic infrastructure - parks, trails, town squares, play spaces, libraries, and other public places – boosts local economies, increases resiliency and trust, supports health and well-being, creates a more equitable society, increases civic engagement, and strengthens democracy for all. Underlying a community’s civic infrastructure is a system of interconnected policies, programs, and people that work in tandem to build and foster a sense of place. Main Streets share in the community-wide need to dedicate time and resources towards expanding access and use of civic infrastructure to enhance quality of life and create more sustainable communities with vibrant social capital.

Reimagining Local Spaces & Economies

Major economic transformations over the past decade from real estate market conditions and pandemic disruptions to macro-economic shifts and local entrepreneurship trends – have presented local communities with myriad challenges. In response, Main Streets have adopted future-focused solutions to leverage their place-based assets, remain competitive, and reorient their economic bases for local prosperity. To adapt in an ever-changing landscape, Main Streets can support local investment and ownership in their districts, activate underutilized spaces through creative reuse, champion people-centered infrastructure, and bolster grassroots economic vitality strategies.

Check out past Main Street Now Conferences for previous education sessions, themes, experiences, and more.

Explore Past Conferences

Stay in the Know

Check this page and follow Main Street Now on Twitter and Facebook for updates. 
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Questions? Email info@mainstreet.org.

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