A Sense of Place: The Importance of Main Street in Community Connection

What is a -Sense of Place”? Why is it essential for our personal well-being? How does Main Street contribute to it, and how can we make ours (even) more vibrant?

This panel discussion and public forum will address the importance of Main Street in creating a “sense of place”. In times when small town economies have been adversely affected by internet retail and other paradigm-changers, some communities have countered the challenges and built on their Main Streets in unique ways. What can Wakefield learn from their successes, and how can we replicate them? We will consider Wakefield’s unique assets and how we can protect and enrich them.

The discussion will be moderated by local filmmaker, author and former radio host, Marc Levitt, and public participation is encouraged. The panelists will include:

• Peter Flinker, partner with Dodson & Flinker, Landscape Architects and Planners in Florence, MA, whose projects have included downtown revitalization, planning for greenways and open space conservation, new community design. and sustainable design. He has developed numerous training programs and award-winning publications including the Rhode Island Rural Design Manual and the Urban Environmental Design Manual.
• Patrick McMahon, CEO of the Connecticut Main Street Center, has 21 years of experience in the fields of economic and community development. Prior to joining the CT Main Street Center, he was the Director of Development in Suffield for 15 years working on community branding and marketing, community facilities planning, Town Center enhancements and economic development efforts around Bradley International Airport.
• Mitchell S. Thomashow, author, educator, environmentalist, and philosopher, who specializes in cultivating opportunities and exchanges that transform how people engage with sustainability, ecological learning and the arts – and has a unique and integrative understanding of what creates “place” and how people experience it.

“A Sense of Place” is brought to you by Preserve Wakefield and is made possible with a generous grant from Rhode Island Council on the Humanities.