Conferences

For some people, the holiday season is their favorite time of year - the presents, the aroma of artificially scented candles, an overabundance of baked goods....not me (except for the baked goods, they're keepers). My favorite time of year is DRY RUN TIME. The conference staff leaves this Sunday for Tulsa to dry-run all the field sessions being offered at the Conference. Hopefully, by now you've received your preliminary program and have looked at what is being offered - a wonderful variety of experiences in a state that has yet to see a National Preservation Conference. In addition to experiencing Tulsa in-depth, we'll visit Oklahoma City, the Cherokee Nation, Bartlesville, Muskogee, Sapulpa, Ponca City, Guthrie, east-bound and west-bound on Route 66, and dozens of other places quirky and wonderful (keep an eye out for the next issue of Preservation, it's all about Tulsa, too).

Our first day includes dry runs of the Tulsa Downtown Safari Walking Tour and the Candlelight House Tour in Maple Ridge. Watch this space for frequent updates, and to whet your appetite for all things Tulsa.

And if I'm wrong and you haven't yet received your Preliminary Program, go to the conference page or see a PDF right away.

Thanks to the National Park Service for this and other great photos of Route 66.

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(This post was written as part of PreservationNation’s coverage of the National Preservation Conference, October 2-6, 2007.)

I joined the National Trust Advisors’ tour after the closing session of the National Preservation Conference this past Saturday to get an overview of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Our first stop was on Nicollet Island, a charming place in the middle of the Mississippi River just upriver from St. Anthony Falls. It contains a collection of late 19th century housing, along with a few buildings that reflect its industrial past.

We learned about the struggle between the preservation community and De La Salle High School on the island as the school pushes forward with plans to build a football stadium there. It was depressing to hear about how many of the city’s decision-makers in this matter had ties to the school, and thus pushed to overrule the city’s preservation commission’s denials of the plans. The one bright note is that the National Trust has joined in a suit challenging the actions in the state appeals court.

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(This post was written as part of PreservationNation’s coverage of the National Preservation Conference, October 2-6, 2007.)

It's a fairly common occurrence that artists are often the earliest residents in neighborhoods, such as warehouse districts, overcoming years of neglect. With the cachet of a vibrant arts community, more and more people and businesses choose to locate in these areas, leading to an economic upturn. The downside, however, is that rents move beyond what artists can afford to pay, and as a result, they end up evicted from very places their presence made "cool."

Friday morning dawned rainy in St. Paul, but it didn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm for a field session called "Adapting Historic Buildings for Artists" -- a look at the work of Artspace, a nationwide nonprofit that started in the Twin Cities. The organization's goal is to create affordable housing for artists, eliminating the "Soho effect," the problem outlined above, so called for the once-artsy, now trendy Manhattan neighborhood.

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Sarah Heffern is the social media strategist for the National Trust’s Public Affairs team. While she embraces all things online and pixel-centric, she’s also a hard-core building hugger, having fallen for preservation in a fifth grade “Built Environment” class.

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