Burgaw | Everett Durham remembers when
Burgaw officials pushed business owners to upgrade their storefronts in the 1950s.
A child at the time, Durham watched as his father reluctantly complied with the new regulations - switching the awnings on his father's drug store on South Fremont Street from canvas to the then modern aluminum.
Now more than a half a century later, downtown business owners are pushing for changes again.
Burgaw officials in the past year have made moves to revamp the downtown area in hopes of drawing more people and businesses to the town of about 3,900 people.
The town has almost completed its renovations on the 158-year-old train depot, and last year the town enlisted help from the state to give its central business district a face-lift.
In August, the town joined the N.C. Small Town Main Street program, an arm of the national Main Street initiative.
The Main Street program was founded by the National Historic Trust and is funded in North Carolina by the legislature. In the state, the Main Street designation is set aside for towns with a population of less than 50,000 people and the Small Town Main Street classification is for areas with a population under 7,500.
Burgaw is one of 13 towns in the state that are a part of the small town program, said Robert Murphrey, coordinator of the small town program.
The program provides technical support and staffing to the towns to help with downtown revitalization.
The towns are given assistance on a full-time basis for two years to help organize, design plans, promote downtown and restructure economically for revitalization.
After that, the program's staff helps town officials on an as-needed basis, Murphrey said.
A group of about 30 to 40 business owners and community members are still developing a vision for downtown Burgaw, which they hope will make the town a destination.
Murphrey said the group wants to:
Enhance the business exteriors in the central business district.
Improve downtown's sidewalks.
Attract more people downtown by adding businesses and restaurants.
Drawing more people to the town is something Vernon Harrell hopes for.
As a child, he saw a lot from his father's store, Harrell's Department Store on South Wright Street, in the heart of the central business district.
His fondest memory is seeing hundreds of people flooding downtown sidewalks on Saturdays going from store to store to do weekend shopping.
Harrell said he's hoping the small town program will return business back to what it was like during his childhood.
"The stores used to stay open until the last customer left, which was sometimes at 11 p.m.," said Harrell, 53, who is also president of the Downtown Burgaw Association.
"There were times when people couldn't even find a parking space to park their cars."
Now stores close around 5 or 6 p.m. every day, he said.
Downtown began changing in the 1970s and 1980s, when the town's banks started closing on Saturdays and former downtown shoppers began taking their business to Wilmington on the weekends, Harrell said.
The change of pace slowed revenue for a lot of downtown businesses and several owners closed because of it, Harrell said. He said antique stores have brought more people downtown, but the crowds are nothing like before.
In March, the Main Street group hopes to map out logistics for accomplishing its goals.
But several business owners have already started changing their fronts, Murphrey said.
Chris Walker, owner of The Nifty Place on Fremont Street, is one of the downtown business owners whose business has gotten a face-lift. Walker's landlord painted the front of his building and put new windows in, he said.
"Who knew a coat of paint and some new windows could change a place?" Walker said. "I'm eager to see what it would look like if everybody downtown decided to do this."
Durham recently replaced the aluminum awning his father had put in more than 50 years ago and replaced it with a canvas one to go along with downtown's upgrades, he said.
"It seems like everybody wants to go back in time now," said Durham, 63, who now owns B&H Marketing in the building of his father's former drug store. "I had no problems doing it because I had to do work on my building anyway. I'm just hoping the new awning will last another 50 years."
According to the
Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce, there are more than 45 businesses in Burgaw's central business district. There are three vacant buildings, said Donna Best-Klingel, executive director of the chamber.
The town is in the beginning stages of its revitalization efforts and hasn't finalized any projects or nailed down any funding.
"It's still early," said Chad McEwen, the town's planning administrator. "We're working with the small town staff to see what's feasible."
McEwen said even though changes to existing businesses are a good start to revitalizing downtown, the town has no plans to make this mandatory for store owners.
Murphrey said the town's enthusiasm is going to help produce the results officials and owners have been trying to get accomplished for years - bringing more people downtown.
"
Burgaw is already a pretty successful small town because they're growing," Murphrey said. "They just need to attract some more businesses downtown and promote themselves better."
Walker agrees.
"We're building so many artificial small towns. Look at Mayfaire," Walker said. "Burgaw's the real deal."
Tyra M. Vaughn: 343-2070
tyra.vaughn@starnewsonline.com