QUINCY, ILL. -- The final preparations are being made as the Historic Quincy Business District gets ready to host the 2012 Illinois Main Street State Conference.
It's the first time the city has hosted this event and the focus of the three day conference will be on community main streets and economic development.
One of the people who's job it will be to make sure the conference is a highlight with the attendees is Historic Quincy Business District executive director Travis Brown.
Brown said the planning for the state-wide conference began several months ago. He added it's the first time the conference has landed in Quincy and the town is ready to showcase what they have to offer.
"But more then that, it really gives us the opportunity as a community to showcase the growth that we've had in out downtown the last three or four years," Brown said.
One of the businesses in the historic business district that will be featured during the three day conference is Center Stage Music. Chenille Saunders said she liked what Quincy had to offer and that by working with Travis Brown, it made the decision that much easier.
"We were going to move between Walmart and Sam's Club, but decided that downtown would be better because of the architecture and because of the park and different little shops that need to be highlighted and Travis was a big help in that because we didn't know any places downtown, we were more familiar with the east end, so it's been a great place to be downtown, it's been awesome," Saunders said.
Right now, Brown said the HQBD has about a 94 percent occupancy rate. He said his organization is there to help recruit businesses and to put people in a position to be successful and he hopes this conference is a springboard for more success down the road.
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