By Paul Grimshaw
For Weekly Surge

Walking through downtown Conway on a pleasant spring day in 2008 is probably not all that different an experience than it was 50 years ago - think TV's Mayberry meets Hollywood's "Pleasantville." An old green Ford pickup truck rests with a troublesome idle at the stoplight near Doug's Automotive & Body Shop at the corner of Main Street and 4th Avenue in the heart of the downtown historic district. Alma's Creative Arts on Laurel Street advertises the sale of "Notions," whatever "notions" are. It even offers classes to teach you what to do with them. A man sweeps the sidewalk in front of his TV repair shop. Through his front window a mountain of old TVs, large and small, sit stacked like old bones - relics of a passing age. When was the last time you saw a TV Repair Shop? A few doors down is Abrams Department Store - it's been there through three generations of Abrams and is a rarity in the world of big chains. A local barbershop displays a faded, hand-painted barber pole and is filled to capacity with its one customer. Around the corner on 3rd Avenue, the front door to Berni's, a small café, sits propped open by a couple of old bricks.

There are a lot of old bricks in Conway. The oldest were brought over from England in the 1700s and were originally ballast from the great sailing ships that once regularly visited the area. Berni's, open for less than a week, was enjoying a brisk lunch-time business, which included a table full of local artists, including Tony Adkins, Deborah Broad, Bill Strydesky and his wife Sharon Willick. They were eating lunch and discussing the monumental task of moving their large consortium of art galleries, the GIFU Art Xchange, from 4th Avenue to its new home on Main Street. Café owner, Shawna Palmer, offers samples of her signature spinach cake and tells her customers that within a week or so Berni's would be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, "til around eight," and will sell beer and wine, too.

Five smartly dressed men in dark suits and power-ties hurry by Berni's window, with the unmistakable confidence and swagger of attorneys on their way back to the dozen or so law offices and Horry County courtrooms a few blocks away. Spring is in the air and good moods prevail, with lots of loud chatter and smiling faces. But the good vibes come from something other than just the weather. Conway is enjoying a mini-renaissance, led in great part by the growing arts community and the efforts of some forward-thinking business people and community leaders. The second anniversary of the popular First Saturday Art Walk, held year-round the first Saturday of each month, is 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and, weather permitting, Conway will be teeming with visitors to the historic district who will hopefully be in a spending mood - the arts and the future of downtown Conway depend upon it.

ROLLING ON THE RIVER

Conway is a river town. The settlement was known as Kingston Town a couple of centuries ago. It pre-dates the American Revolution and before the Anglos showed up it was home to a variety of Native American clans, including the Waccamaw and the Chicora, who plied its waters and lands for the once abundant natural resources of the area. Ahhh, the good old days. If Conway's business leaders are to be believed, the "good ol' days" are returning.

The downtown historic district, easily missed by the 14 million tourists on their way to the beach, sits hidden, just a few blocks off of U.S. 501 and U.S. 378 and just a few miles from U.S. 22, ominously named "The Conway Bypass." The District reaches down to the banks of the Waccamaw River, an ancient black-water trade route stained dark by the tannins from countless pine needles, which perpetually fall into its slow-moving waters. The river, which still connects Conway to the world via the Intracoastal Waterway, was once Horry County's trade center with steamships and paddleboats carrying pine tar, turpentine, tobacco and lumber to the Colonies and to international customers. Then came the trains, which replaced the boats. In 1901, The Black Moria, a steam train, part of the C&S (Conway & Seashore) Railroad took passengers to New Town (later, Myrtle Beach) and charged 35 cents for a roundtrip fare, heralding the start of the tourist industry. Now recreation reigns supreme on the Waccamaw with fisherman, pleasure boats, a waterfront restaurant, a marina, the Riverwalk and a AAA Four Diamond rated bed and breakfast, The Cypress Inn, all gracing its banks. Together the riverfront businesses are a vibrant part of the historic district and play host to some of the annual music festivals held throughout the year including the 22nd annual Rivertown Jazz & Arts Festival on May 3 and the 'Round The Fourth festival on June 28.

Hugh Archer, along with his wife Carol Archer and members of their extended family, have owned The Cypress Inn at 16 Elm Street since August 2006. "We searched the whole southeast for a suitable property and found this," said Hugh Archer, who is one of many new business people investing in Conway. The new energy seen in the community comes, at least in part, from new blood, like the Archers, who have a vested interest in seeing Conway grow and in promoting activities that include the riverfront boardwalk called The Riverwalk. "My partner George Bullock and I are active in the [Conway] Chamber and the Main Street project here in town. Main Street U.S.A. has really been pushing this as a wonderful place to visit and now that they're completing the third phase of the Riverwalk, it will really spruce up the area with new sidewalks, pavers and ways to give people different avenues to travel its length."

For those who've stumbled accidentally upon it, or those who've responded to its promotional efforts, the small historic district could be Main Street, Anywhere U.S.A. in anyone's fondest nostalgic memories. Dress shops, diners, bakeries, banks and old churches with Confederate war-dead in their graveyards are situated next to antebellum homes, 200-year-old municipal buildings, antique stores, Spanish Moss-draped live oaks, a music store where the proprietor crafts hand-made instruments, and scads of working art studios and galleries. There's also Main Street Theatre, housed within a renovated historic building, which presents high-production value, community cast, famous Broadway musicals, plays and seasonal shows to capacity crowds. Distinctly different than Myrtle Beach, its coastal cousin, Conway, is a tiny Southern city with a firm handle on its preservation, revitalization and growth. The entire city is growing, spurred on by an increase of several thousand permanent residents since the last census, now estimated at around 13,000. The first movie theater in Conway in 50 years, The Rivertown Stadium 12, recently opened and is only a mile from Main Street on Rivertown Blvd. Willingness to seek the advice of nationally known marketing experts and those in its own business community seems to be the recurring theme helping Conway to reinterpret its plans for the future.

The concept of Main Street U.S.A. is so ingrained into the quintessentially American experience that even Walt Disney knew to capitalize upon its universal appeal. His own version of Main Street greets guests the minute they enter Disneyland and Disneyworld theme parks. A national trust dedicated to historic preservation and revitalization, known simply as Main Street is based in Philadelphia, Pa. and along with a similar state organization, S.C. Main Street, it helps local affiliates, such as Conway Main Street U.S.A., carry out the formidable task of keeping downtown alive. Jennifer Hudson, Assistant Director of Conway Main Street U.S.A., founded in 1986, helps to guide the non-profit through its many events. Its mission statement describes the goals of the organization - to stimulate economic development, encourage historic preservation and promote the vitality of downtown Conway. "We promote festivals and events year-round," said Hudson from her office within the Conway Chamber of Commerce building. "We just had Downtown Goes Uptown, which was a fund-raiser, we promote the Rivertown Christmas events, Rivertown Jazz & Arts, we offer grant money to area business to help them with small projects like a new awning for their building and that kind of thing." The organization assists the Art Walk artists with administrative support and publicity as well.

Up the street from Hudson's office, The Horry County Museum at 428 Main Street, is housed in the old Post Office on the edge of the historic district and exhibits a wide range of artifacts. Prehistoric tools, old photographs, and rotating exhibits, inform and entertain equally. Particularly impressive is the display of the unfortunate local Ursus Americanus, the Black Bears, who are finding they are no match for the automobile and urban sprawl, which is slowly stripping them of their habitat and is crowding them out. One particularly large fellow, killed on U.S. 501 in 1981, is displayed behind glass and stands seven feet tall and weighs 500 pounds. The museum, along with 40-plus additional locations, is a featured stop on the Historic Walking Tour. The Visitor's Center is the best place to start a tour and is located at 903 3rd Avenue.

ART IMITATES COMMERCE

But how far may Conway ride on its historical coattails? While the old buildings of the historic district are charming and make for wonderful art galleries and restaurants, and the antebellum homes are a delight to visit, Conway must compete for local and tourist dollars and has discovered the arts as a way to do so. Myrtle Beach attempted to create an arts center and has excellent galleries and funky gift shops within the SuperBlock, which incorporates parts of Main Street and 8th Ave N. in Myrtle Beach. In addition, places such as Palmetto Studios, Collector's Café, the Franklin Burroughs - Simeon Chapin Art Museum and the Art in the Park event are all well-known to the greater Myrtle Beach arts community but Conway seems to have succeeded in creating an arts-dense area that attracts more artists and patrons than Myrtle Beach may ever hope to.

With the smell of fresh paint in the air, Strydesky and his crew, now finished with lunch, are back at work shuffling back and forth between his two gallery buildings on 4th Avenue and on Main Street. He proudly shows off his works of flamboyant, brightly colored, sometimes fluorescent canvases filled with abstract images that are occasionally as big as the room in which they're hanging. "If you look at this one long enough the colors will begin to pulse," said Strydesky, taking a break from the move he hopes will afford his fellow resident artists a bit more visibility. The GIFU Art Xchange has been at the 4th Avenue location for three years. The move to the renovated Conway Hardware Company store at 315 Main Street, will put the half-dozen or so artists closer to more of the foot traffic and will offer them five times the square footage of their previous home. "We're back and forth on this still, but we think we'll name it the Rivertown Art Exchange," he said. Many of the galleries, like GIFU, are also working studios, which hold classes and regularly have artists working in their chosen disciplines. The First Saturday Art Walk series has proven to be enough of a draw to encourage twice the number of galleries/studios to move to the area as had been in place previous to its beginnings two years earlier. Strydesky recalled the origins of the Art Walk. "The idea came about when Bridget [Johnson] from the Chamber called me and I met with several Chamber folks and they asked me my opinion about the economic redevelopment breakfast meeting from a few weeks earlier. I suggested that we get all the arts together and start promoting them. I said to Bridget 'you buy the coffee and donuts and I'll bring the artists.' That following Tuesday 10 artists showed up at the Chamber and that's when the first Artwalk was hatched. We're a loosely affiliated group but we work well together."

Strydesky and Willick moved to Myrtle Beach eight years ago from the Washington D.C. area and his art is displayed in a variety of Myrtle Beach businesses and galleries. When asked why he and his wife put their time, energy and funding into promoting Conway's art scene vs. similar opportunities in Myrtle Beach, he smiled, and chose his words carefully. "Conway has history. Myrtle Beach has flair...and lots of bulldozers and I love old buildings. They have some great galleries in Myrtle Beach and I've been to most of them. But our galleries are all within walking distance of one another and we're very consistent with the Art Walk. Conway has a tight-knit historic renovation group that has preserved its history - it reminded us of Georgetown, in D.C. When we saw this building [315 Main Street] it reminded us of Old Town Alexandria (Virginia) and the Torpedo Factory, which we used as our model."

Strydesky and Willick hope to fill the two-story building with artists, create a cultural arts center, and are certain of the collective's impact on the area. "The artists in this Art Walk have been an economic generator for Conway. We hear from businesses that say they've had their best days when Art Walk was on and were better than their best weeks last year. The businesses here are incredibly enthusiastic about the Art Walk. Conway is the new art Mecca. We started with six artists and we've probably got the works of 60 - 100 now on display in Conway at any given time." Cautiously optimistic, Strydesky does have one big concern. "We could chitchat all day about the arts and the value of art but unless people start collecting all this great art from the local galleries...well, we're going to be sadly missed."

Willick offers her opinion of the problem facing many small-town downtowns across America, much like Conway. "They've had the energy sucked right out of them by the malls and super-stores. That Market Common project [which opens today on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base] - it's a faux Conway.

They're pretending to be what Conway could and should be. We're the real deal."

Pop's Glass Station is a favorite stop of Art Walk patrons at 911-A Norman Alley. It regularly hosts live demonstrations from expert glass blowers, offers classes and its walls and shelves are filled with whimsical and beautiful glass creations. Barbara Streeter and Ed Streeter own Pop's Glass and were instrumental in seeing the Art Walk set in motion. "This whole movement has really been going on over the past five or six years," said Barbara Streeter, who, along with her husband, has lived in Conway for 22 years. They originally opened a small stained-glass gallery the same year Conway Main Street USA began - 1986. "Two years ago there were four galleries - now there are eight. We have an enormous amount of artists, crafts people, designers, actors - creative people of all types in the area. I would like to see more college-oriented business downtown added to the mix - like coffee shops and bookstores. I'm not sure what inspired our downtown renaissance except for maybe the beautiful architecture and the scenery. It's a beautiful place to work. We always knew that downtown was an important place for the creative end of our business."

IT'S ACADEMIC

Conway's enthusiastic embracing of the arts and its few chic and hip new restaurants do not, as Streeter noted, necessarily entice college students and young adults to spend their time there. Or at least not yet. Randy Akers, 23, is a lifelong Conway resident and a Coastal Carolina University graduate student, studying to get his Master's Degree and teaching certificate. He and his friends rarely spend time anywhere in Conway, other than classes at the university, which is several miles from downtown, and then back home again. Akers lives with his family near the area called, tongue-in-cheek, UCLA - Upper Conway Lower Aynor. If he and his friends go out in search of nightlife, they head straight for Myrtle Beach. "Most of my friends go closer to the beach. My Coastal friends live in apartments toward the beach in Carolina Forest or University Place. A lot of people I know go to [Club] Kryptonite for College Night. That college-party-mentality doesn't really exist in Conway because a lot of stuff closes early. When my band (Five Points) plays we're always in clubs at the beach. We've never looked into playing out in Conway - I don't hang out there a whole lot."

Some CCU students have found their way into the Conway arts scene with exhibits at various galleries, including GIFU. Cynthia Farnell, Assistant Professor and Gallery Director at the University for the last two years likes to see student's artworks in Conway's galleries. "We certainly encourage the students to participate in any exhibitions that happen in Conway. Recently I know of two students - there are more - but Meagan Norman and Sarah Evans have pieces in GIFU," said Farnell from her CCU office. "The students need more venues outside of school to show in and we appreciate everything the Conway arts organizations do to help us."

Akers hasn't seen the works of his fellow students in Conway nor have any of his friends - that he knows of. They simply don't visit downtown even for coffee and a little Internet Wi-Fi, even though the coffee shop, Third & Elm (300 Elm Street), formerly Port City Java, offers both. "It seems like my friends who are into the coffee house scene go to Carolina Forest and hang out over there. The main thing [downtown] Conway needs to do to appeal to younger people is come into the now. Things need to start to stay open later. If it's Wednesday night everything closes at 7." Rivertown Commons, outside of the downtown area on U.S. 501, is a fast-growing development of superstores, restaurants and a new movie theater, which may potentially pull even more shoppers and young adults from the downtown district.

Stan Stephens manages Bodega, his family-owned kitchen, gourmet specialty and gift shop at 301 Main Street. He's seen businesses come and go within the historic district but remains upbeat about the future. "I think we see two to three new businesses open each year and of course there's always some failure but it's definitely growing, especially in the last three years or so. Spring and fall are good tourism months. We get a lot of locals during the holiday season but then the summer really drops off - it's too hot for the locals and the tourists and the families go to the beach. We have good Saturdays when the Art Walk is running. Parking is sometimes an issue. I had another storeowner tell me this: There's a weird mentality downtown. If you can't park in front of the store you want to shop at you feel like the parking is bad, but when you go to Wal-Mart or the mall, think of how far you have to walk - it doesn't make sense, but still some people complain." Stephens comments that the downtown area needs a toy store, a pet store and a larger variety of shops before they can hope to compete with the malls and big-box retailers. "There's so much room for business here with the way the population has grown - the retirement population especially."

Tom Anderson of Anderson Construction renovates historic buildings in downtown Conway and has tapped in to the growing demand for apartments in the District. "Usually they're all leased," said Anderson. "But right now I have a couple available. The downtown businesses seem to be real steady - we can always use more, though." Some of Anderson's loft apartments feature exposed brick wall interiors and rents start at a very reasonable $550 per month.

Artist, percussionist and gallery owner, David Piper, opened My View Beyond last September after moving to Conway from Florida, though he was a lifelong Maine resident prior to that. "I moved here because I hate what's happening in southwest Florida. You have to be insane to drive on Interstate 4, the Highway of Death. Conway reminded me of my home for 30 years in Damariscotta, Maine. It's very much like 15 other river towns I remember from throughout Maine." Piper's copper and white Siberian Husky, Skye, keeps him company every day in the store, which he'll admit isn't as busy as he needs it to be. "Don't even ask me what I think about our current President," he says in reference to an economy that has hit his business hard. In his gallery he shows and sells his oil paintings as well as the works of six different potters. The rear of the store is filled with custom, handmade drums including African Djembe hand-drums and Phattie drums, a line of rock and jazz drum kits, made in Johnson City, Tenn., which include ornate, hand carved wooden snare drums and more traditional, but still elaborately designed artistic models. "What I try to do is buy the best. And these are the best I've ever seen."

Tim McGhee has been the Executive/Artistic Director of the Theatre of the Republic for the last four of its seven years in Conway. He's piloted his company of actors, singers and dancers through dozens of Broadway musicals, many of which played to capacity crowds. The troupe's home is the Main Street Theater at 337 Main Street and as the epicenter of the performance arts in Conway, the company has played a major role in the rejuvenation of the Historic District. McGhee sees the company and the town as a natural fit. "Conway is a unique town all its own. We are a down-home, friendly Southern community. All the shops and all the people - they all know each other. I love the fact that buildings are being renovated. We've got Crady's restaurant across the street and they open up for dinner and stay open late after the shows and we go over for cocktails. It's like our own little Broadway and it's a fun, really nice environment. We're growing by leaps and bounds. We're doing 'Jesus Christ Superstar' right now and Conway is very supportive and proud of the Theatre. They help us with funding. We get some of the hospitality tax money and when you have all that working together, you just can't fail. We've had to add a weekend to every performance this year to meet the growing season ticket base. I think we'll grow again next year - you can never have too much theater."

The Conway Chamber of Commerce, entrusted to meet all of Conway's business challenges, has a heart for the historic district, even though it can't play favorites. Bridgette Johnson, the Chamber's Executive Vice President, has been with the Chamber for four years. "I've lived in Conway my entire life. I'm a dying breed," she said with a laugh. "We're seeing lots of folks [read "Yankees"] coming here because they like the small-town feel of Conway. That's what they appreciate about us." She recognizes the obvious impact of the arts and the new business people such as Strydesky, Willick, and Piper. "When the artists first got together they wanted to teach folks that there's art for sale in Conway and you can buy it here, but they also wanted to educate folks about the process of art and what art is. These are working studios - not just galleries where you go to see the works. You actually get to meet the artists and see the work in progress. The Chamber's part in that process was in helping promote them as a group. We helped write their first press releases and copy for their brochures. They're one of the most successful economic clusters we have here in Conway."

Restaurants are an important mix to the recipe for success also and the district has its fair share. "We have a few staples in the downtown area," said Johnson. "The Trestle, Crady's, The Bistro - until it burned, but they're coming back, The Sidewheeler Restaurant on the Riverwalk and several new restaurants as well." The Rivertown Bistro, a fine dining staple of the downtown area for 14 years, suffered a total loss when it burned in January. Owner and chef Darren Smith hopes to reopen before the end of the year and has been approved for a two-story structure.

To further gain an understanding of a town's commercial health, getting an outside opinion can be useful, and that's just what Conway has done with the help of Community Design Solutions, a Columbia-based firm of designers, civil engineers, architects and marketing experts who help small towns brand themselves and get a handle on their identities. "We sometimes find we're in the shadow of Myrtle Beach. We can't compete with the Big Blue," continued Johnson, using her favorite euphemism for the Atlantic Ocean and its powerful allure. "Randy Wilson [chief architect for Community Design Solutions] works with the SC Main Street and we met him when he was their keynote speaker a couple of years ago. We partnered with the City of Conway to have them [CDS] give us a marketing analysis of the folks who were dining here and shopping here and to determine where our core sales-market comes from. They gave us the suggestion to strengthen our Conway loyalty and market to our in-market [i.e.] - Conway, Aynor and Loris - and to attract day-trippers from Myrtle Beach. The biggest thing that I was blown away by was [CDS' suggestion] to focus on landscapes, streetscapes and pole banners. As folks are driving up we want them to think 'what am I coming into? I need to take a left and find out what else is here.' These guys [CDS] will give us a cohesive, step-by-step plan of things to do to slow people down as they're coming through." CDS will deliver a full implementation plan in the next few weeks and has already supplied Conway with a design for the banners and a new logo. "We are all just thrilled with their ideas. We now have one look that means Conway."

Downtown Conway's businesses face an uphill battle with retail development outside the city center at an all-time high. Still, they have something to offer that the strip malls, super-centers and planned communities don't - authenticity, character, culture and history. The city's leaders and business people, who are a mix of the old guard and those new to town, are a remarkably optimistic group. They plan to take Conway, ready or not, into a future filled with city beautification plans, pedestrian walkways, more art galleries, more restaurants and entertainment all with a goal of creating more reasons to live, work and play within its borders.

"Myrtle Beach spends a great amount of money bringing people to the beach already - we don't need to spend our advertising dollars to get them to the area, they're already coming - but if we can bring them into Conway off of 501 as they're passing through... So many people think Conway is 501 and there's much more," said Johnson.