By Liz Moomey
liz.moomey@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Downtown Salisbury board members and city staff met Thursday to begin breaking into committees to plan for the three-day NC Main Street Conference.

Salisbury hosted the conference in 2013, which brings 500-700 visitors into downtown.

The committees include: logistics, community pride, hospitality, decorations and welcome reception.

“My motto is teamwork makes the dream work so as a team we’re able to pull this conference off and represent the City of Salisbury in a wonderful and intimate way,” said Latoya Price, marketing and events coordinator for Downtown Salisbury, Inc. “We are asking you all — you can either think about it today — to preferably sign up today.”

Each committee will consist of about four or five people and will have a chair. They also encouraged to volunteer during the conference, which Price said they’ll need about 100-140 volunteers.

“We would like and appreciate you participating or volunteering in some form or fashion,” Price said.

Larissa Harper, DSI executive director, raved to the attendees about the benefit the conference has on the community.

“Typically at the end of their conference, everybody is pumped up and going back to their town and are like, ‘we got all these great ideas and let’s implement them,’ ” Harper said. “It’s usually very rejuvenating.”

Gianni Moscardini, the owner of Salty Caper and La Cava, agreed saying he attended last year’s Main Street Conference and was impressed.

Harper asked developer of Empire Hotel Britt Weaver if they could conduct tours throughout the conference for attendees.

“Folks in other communities really want to see how they redevelop buildings like we’ve done here,” she said. “They will get to see the end product and then they’ll get to see one under contract, under development, so the beginning and ending stages.

“Main Street is about preserving and developing and revitalizing and a lot of other towns are like us and have large properties and buildings, such as the Empire Hotel.”

She asked the board and staff what the committees and volunteers could do to make visitors feel welcomed in Salisbury.

Moscardini announced he will open Salty Caper for lunch during the conference. Harper said she wants businesses along Main Street to stay open later for visitors to be encouraged to go out and explore.

The NC Main Street Conference is March 12-14.

For more information, visit ncmainstreetconference.com.