Burlington

Last week, I attended the first ever Preserve Iowa Summit, held in Burlington, Iowa, to learn more about historic preservation and downtown revitalization.

This summit brought together architects, historic preservationists, tourism professionals (me!) and others interested in preserving historic buildings for historic or economic development (me again!) purposes.

Burlington was a natural choice for this meeting, as much of it's downtown has undergone significant preservation, such as...

the McConnell Lofts, Capitol Theater (photos),

and First United Methodist Church, which was almost entirely destroyed by fire, along with the First Presbyterian Church next door.

after

after

The summit was awesome!  I met some very interesting people - artists, architects, and people involved with economic development for the state of Iowa - right up some of my many alleys.

I didn't love Burlington (sorry Burlington), other than...

Luckily, the Burlington Farmer's Market was held one of the nights I was in town.

I could totally do this

Maybe this too

Not the original, but made me feel "at home"

Snake Alley in Burlington is actually the Crookedest Street in the world (not Lombard Street in San Francisco).

cute front porch with a great view of Snake Alley

I usually shun mosquitos but this little park is named for it's size, not its inhabitants.

So cute, with a great view!

Huffington Post was also in Burlington recently, looking for Iowa Style.  I'm not sure they captured it, but it's a cute story.

This week, I'm really enjoying the 3-day weekend, as opposed to the 1-day weekends I've had the last two weeks.  Hope you are too!!