2014 Greater Erie Awards: Sustaining the Gem City
When: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 1, 2014
Where: Masonic Temple Ballroom, 32 West 8th St, Erie, PA 16501
Admission to the May 1 Greater Erie Awards is $50 which includes a yearly membership with Preservation Erie as well as invitations to several behind-the-scenes tours of rehabilitated or repurposed historic properties and presentations by local craftsmen who specialize in historic preservation trades (i.e. metal working, carpentry, painting). Greater Erie Awards Facebook Event page
Greater Erie Awards Keynote: Sustaining the Gem City by Ed McMahon
Mr. McMahon holds the Charles E. Fraser Chair on Sustainable Development at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. where he is nationally known as an inspiring and thought provoking speaker and leading authority on topics related to sustainable development, land conservation, smart growth, and historic preservation. Before joining the Urban Land Institute, Mr. McMahon spent 14 years as the Vice President and Director of Land Use Planning for The Conservation Fund in Arlington, Virginia where he helped to protect more than 5 million acres of land of historic or natural significance. He is also the co-founder and former President of Scenic America, a national non-profit organization devoted to protecting America’s scenic landscapes.
2014 Greater Erie Award recipients, The Remnant Shop, Kraus Department Store and the Downtown YMCA, were selected because of their ongoing commitment to their neighborhoods, historic properties and Greater Erie.
The Remnant Shop on East 11th Street is a resource for high-end fabrics unavailable elsewhere in the region. The Pentz family regularly drives to Highpoint, North Carolina to buy the remainder bolts of designer upholstery fabric, purchased by Erie trades people and artists.
Kraus Department Store has been an anchor on Parade Street offering a variety of products from lampshades to t-shirts as well as heavy equipment rental, window screen repair and wall-paper-hanging clinics. For 125 years, shoppers from Greater Erie have made purchases there.
The YMCA on West 10th nurtured downtown youth and adults for over a century. The Downtown Y recently started a $500,000 renovation project for their expanded Teen Center.
Because of Your Support:
Thanks to the success of the Greater Erie Awards last year, Preservation Erie was able to generate community support for a county-wide inventory of historic properties. Work on the inventory began in December. The inventory will enable Erie County communities, property owners, organizations, and agencies to better appreciate the cultural and economic value of their historic resources, and assist civic leaders in planning for their protection. Preservation Erie also recently joined forces with the Erie County Historical Society to create a Joint Action Team focused on public policy and advocacy.