By Mark Wineka
mark.wineka@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — “Revolving Funds Rock” is the theme to Preservation North Carolina’s Annual Conference to be held in Salisbury Wednesday through Friday. This is the first time Salisbury has been host to the conference since 1996.

The conference will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the revolving funds of both Preservation North Carolina and the Historic Salisbury Foundation.

Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics and a leading expert on the financial impact of historic preservation, will be the keynote speaker from 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Thursday at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Other speakers that morning include Daniel Carey, president and chief executive officer of Historic Savannah Foundation, and professor Justin Gunther of the Savannah College of Art & Design. Both Carey and Gunther will be talking about the impact of revolving funds.

The conference gets under way Wednesday afternoon at the Rowan Museum, when speakers will include Ramona Bartos, deputy state historic preservation officer; Myrick Howard, executive director of Preservation North Carolina; and Ed Clement, one of the founding members of Historic Salisbury Foundation.

Clement will look at some of the challenges and successes of HSF’s 40 years of experience with a revolving fund.

At the Meroney Theater Friday morning, speakers include Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president and cofounder of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, and Tom Mayes, deputy counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and author of a series of essays on why old places matter.

Other things happening during the conference include an opening reception, dinner and music at the Hall House on South Jackson Street Wednesday evening. Also that night, the following West Square Historic District residences are open for self-guided tours: the Brown-Coffin-Brown House, the Eames-Furr House, the Cannon-Guille House and the Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House.

Various preservation workshops will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Thursday afternoon. Thursday night, a preservation celebration will be held at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer, and a young professionals gathering also is scheduled later Thursday night at Go Burrito!

Before the conference wraps up Friday, the 2015 Honor Awards will be handed out late in the morning at the Meroney Theater, followed by the 2015 Honor Awards Luncheon at the Depot and the Germanic Heritage Ramble through Rowan County from 2-4 p.m. The “ramble” includes Organ Lutheran Church and the Old Stone House.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.