Gov. John Hickenlooper is set to launch the 2018 Saving Places Conference at the beginning of February in Denver. This year’s conference is assembled around the theme “The Power of Place: From the Mountains to the Plains,” celebrating the diversity of Colorado’s history and stories that often go untold, organizers said.

The annual event – the nation’s second-largest historic preservation conference – brings together hundreds of historic preservation enthusiasts and professionals. It’s scheduled for Jan. 31-Feb. 3 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, and it’s sponsored by Colorado Preservation Inc. with partial funding from a History Colorado State Historical Fund Grant.

Hickenlooper, a longtime friend of the preservation community and Colorado Preservation Inc., opens the Plenary Presentation the morning of Feb. 1 and will take questions from the audience after his speech.

Kevin Jennings, president of New York’s Tenement Museum, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address after the governor’s appearance. He’ll be talking about the importance of preserving things that were earlier considered unimportant and lacking value. The Tenement Museum tells the history of immigration with its collection reflecting the personal lives of generations of newcomers to these shores who settled in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The conference includes more than 70 sessions and workshops covering everything from fundraising for projects to deep dives on high-profile preservation efforts, such as the Goodnight Barn and the World’s Wonder View Tower. There’ll also be reviews of mid-century modern architecture and tips on taking advantage of historic architecture to turn a downtown vibrant. New this year will be tours of area landmarks, including the Stanley Marketplace, the Stapleton Air Traffic Control Tower and the newly renovated McNichols Civic Center Building.

Learn more at www.SavingPlacesConference.org. Early-bird registration ends Dec. 23.