Did you recently buy a historic home and need help getting renovations underway? Or do you want to learn more about living green? Then
NKY Restoration Weekend is for you.
The second annual Restoration Weekend is from 9 am to 5 pm on Feb. 23 at the
Gateway Community and Technical College's Urban Campus in Covington. The event will feature many opportunities for historic home owners, including classes and demonstrations on how to make historic houses and surrounding property more energy efficient and sustainable; researching historic homes; utilizing the Kentucky homeowner’s rehabilitation tax credit; Rookwood tile history and maintenance; historic ironwork; window restoration; plaster; masonry repair and maintenance ask the expert.
There will also be a vendor fair with more than 20 booths featuring craftsmen and contractors that represent all aspects of the renovation process.
“The weekend is about combining sustainable and green practices with historic homes,” says Beth Johnson, preservation and planning specialist for the City of Covington. “The vendors are a huge part of the event, and helps connect homeowners with good products and contractors.”
But Johnson says the highlight of the event is the keynote speakers,
Matt Grocoff. He’s a nationally known TV personality who turned a 100-year-old folk Victorian house into net zero, which means it’s historically sensitive, but doesn’t use energy.
“There’s such an amazing stock of historic homes in Northern Kentucky and the surrounding area, and people need to be responsible homeowners and be better stewards of historic homes,” Johnson says. “DIY is really big, and they need to know the proper ways to do things.”
The event is partially funded by the
Certified Local Government grant that’s given to the cities of Bellevue, Covington and Newport from the
National Park Service and administered by the
Kentucky Heritage Council.
NKY Restoration is an unincorporated association and collaboration of businesses, artisans and craftsmen, nonprofit organizations, cities and the Historic Preservation offices in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.
The event is free, but reservations are requested to ensure a spot at the keynote luncheon.
By Caitlin Koenig
Follow Caitlin on Twitter
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.