Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 26, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 11 Notre Dame Health Care's 2018 Educational Forum To learn how you can help support our educational mission, please contact Paige ayer at pthayer@notredame- healthcare.org or 508-852-5800, x2509 notredamehealthcare.org ank you to our sponsors for their generous support! Presenting Sponsor Reception Sponsor Media Sponsors e Catholic Free Press Telegram & Gazette Worcester Business Journal Flourishing Sponsors Fallon Health Risk Strategies Company Webster Five Table Sponsor People's United Bank Peace of Mind Sponsors Commerce Bank, a division of Berkshire Bank Cutler Associates Preferred Pharmacy Solutions Sallop/Atlantic Charter Insurance music, LAUGHTER & Movement... Your Roadmap to Healthy Living We are also grateful to all of our contributors and attendees who made our November 14, 2018 Educational Forum a success! The bikeway is the best Aer working on it for more than a decade, including being set back by a fire, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor opened a new $21-million Worcester visitor center in October, one of six along the corridor which park officials hope will draw more people to learn about and visit the park. e corridor connects 25 communities between Worcester and Pawtucket, R.I. and is meant to showcase the area's role in the birth of the American Industrial Revolution, focusing on the old mill buildings in the region. When polled online, WBJ readers said the best part of the corridor is the partially completed bikeway from Worcester to Providence. F L AS H P O L L "Please complete the bikeway." What is the Blackstone Heritage Corridor's best attribute? "It's difficult to single out one element, but I picked the one that seems to tie all the others together – the way the river has bound people and buildings, industry and culture together over time." - Beth Milke, Uxbridge "The new visitor center is beautiful, very well thought out and designed." The new Worcester visitor center 23% The 48-mile Blackstone River Bikeway from Worcester to Providence 50% The 1000-acre Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park in Massachusetts 23% COMMENTS: Valley National Heritage Corridor. "It's had all kinds of ups and downs," McGovern said of the center's long history to become reality. "And here we The Old Slater Mill National Historic Landmark in Pawtucket 4% are, and it's all done." Intensifying the corridor Even while fighting for funding, the corridor is continuing with other proj- ects, including finalizing its long-run- ning plan to make the Blackstone River clean enough for swimming and fishing, as well as finishing a bike path to roughly trace the path of the river. Today, the bike path starts at the Worcester visitor center and ends just over three miles to the south in Mill- bury. e path doesn't pick up again until the southern end of Uxbridge, where it continues into Rhode Island and ends in Providence. e corridor is looking to upgrade its exhibits at the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket and the River Bend Farm in Uxbridge. In the meantime, the corridor and the region's main tourism office, Discover Central Massachusetts, are looking for closer ties. e two offices have talked about exchanging content to make it easier for visitors to either one to know more about the other, said Stephanie Ramey, the executive director of Discover Cen- tral Massachusetts. "We're looking to intensify that relationship," she said. n Pawtucket Visitor Center, Pawtucket, R.I. n Kelly House/Blackstone River State Park, Lincoln, R.I. n Museum of Work and Culture, Woonsocket, R.I. n River Bend Farm at Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park, Uxbridge n Blackstone Heritage Corridor Visitor Center, Worcester n Blackstone River State Park, Lincoln, R.I. n Old Slater Mill, Pawtucket n Ashton Historic District, Cumberland, R.I. n Whitinsville Historic District, Whitinsville n Hopedale Village Historic District, Hopedale Blackstone Heritage Corridor attractions W Source: Blackstone Heritage Corridor

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