1990: First Annual Preservation Conference

"[A] festive wine bar and luncheon" was wedged between presentations on how historic preservation commissions work to preserve a community's historic buildings and rehabilitation success stories in Kane County at this first preservation conference. Continuing through 1997, Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley (PPFV), in partnership with the Kane County Historic Preservation Commission, organized this annual conference. The first conference in 1990 took place at the Geneva Golf Club from 9am to 3pm on March 17, 1990 and attracted eighty-five attendees! An award was presented to the Kane County Board for being the first county in Illinois to establish a historic preservation commission (St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia would soon follow with commissions of their own).

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PICTURED: Jean Humphrey, Nancy Mavrogenes, Nancy Bell, Christine Poll, and Ruth Burnham. These women were the committee of volunteers who organized the conference along with co-director of PPFV Elizabeth Safanda pictured at the far right.

SOURCES: Restoration Advocate IX, no. 1 (March 1990), 1 and "Special Events," Restorations of Kane County Annual Report February 1, 1990 - December 31, 1990 both of which are located in the Archives of Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley, St. Charles, Ill.