After more than half a century of attracting inventors to the small Southern Minnesota town of Redwood Falls, the annual Minnesota Inventors Congress is moving to the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota Inventors Congress began in 1958, and Twin Cities Business examined the history of the event in a 2011 feature story, posing the question of whether the storied annual conference needed to reinvent itself amid a declining attendance rate.

It now appears that the answer was yes. Program Director Deb Hess announced late last week plans to move the show to the Twin Cities area in 2014, ending a 56-year run in its home community of Redwood Falls, according to a Pioneer Press report.

Inventors were advocating for a move to an urban venue to increase the exposure they can receive, and a two-year grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development will help finance the transition, the St. Paul newspaper reported.

The Minnesota Inventors Congress is reportedly negotiating with a prospective partner in the Twin Cities, and the event’s organizers plan to retain their year-round office and operations in Redwood Falls. Read more about the planned move in the Pioneer Press here.

While there has been some debate over whether Minnesota is an entrepreneurial hotspot, the state has a history of being a national leader when it comes to patents, indicating of a strong inventor community.