SELMA - Spurred by a state commerce program, Selma hopes to beautify its downtown and draw more dollars to the district. Dozens of people came to a meeting last Thursday to discuss the ideas that the Small Town Main Street program has set percolating.

Alex Wagner, a Boy Scout, has plans for a downtown walking circuit. Eric Jackson, a former town council candidate, talked about the promotions and events that he and his committee had discussed.

And Bob Murphrey, a planner from the N.C. Department of Commerce, analysed the downtown market, saying businesses were bleeding almost $10 million every year to competitors just outside of town.

The conversation was driven by Small Town Main Street, the Department of Commerce program that Selma won membership to last year. Through the program, Murphrey and other experts have visited Selma once a month since September to help committees of citizens and elected officials as they try to bring new life to downtown.

Six months later, change is brewing. Jackson said he and others want to play up Selma as the birthplace of Vicks VapoRub. On May 1, a professor from Catawba College will give a lecture about Vicks. And the next day, the third annual Selma house and garden tour will take place.

"We're doing this to make the viability of downtown as a destination," Jackson said. He also talked about plans for a farmers' market and cooperative advertising, where multiple businesses might band together to draw customers to Selma.

Murphrey, the coordinator of the program, said the town should recruit new businesses to fill unoccupied downtown buildings.

But "in order to get all that done," he said, "we have to start by gaining data about the market."

That data showed plenty of room for improvement. The per-capita income of the mile radius around downtown is $15,742, almost $3,000 less than the surrounding five-mile area. And the smaller area has 28 retail businesses, compared to 400 in the larger area.

Many customers "leak" to strip malls, discount retail stores and stores in Smithfield and Clayton, Murphrey said. The result is $10 million of lost potential profit, he said.

"If we get that back, we could fill up about 16,000 square feet of vacant space, and that's what you have," he said. "That's dollars leaving the economy that could be potentially sent here."

He suggested that local businesses might add a few lines of merchandise or advertise more. Plus, simple advertising tricks, like flyers on doorknobs, might draw more people to the stores.

Murphrey also said that residential development loans and grant programs might foster more growth.

He and the Small Town program will help Selma for about 20 more months. To get involved, attend a meeting of the Small Town Main Street committee on the second Thursday of any month at 6:00 p.m. in the Woman's Club building.