PULASKI -- Every few years, the town of Pulaski tries to reinvent itself.

In the early 1990s, it was going to be the antiques capital of Southwest Virginia.

"It worked very well for quite some time," recalled Marlis Ryssel-Flynn, who ran the Upstairs/Downstairs shop on Main Street then and still does.

But eventually the town's advertising budget dwindled and so did the antiques stores, although some remain.

In 2001, Florence Stevenson pushed the idea of turning Pulaski into a Polish-style village to make it a tourist destination. After all, Pulaski and Pulaski County were named for Count Casimir Pulaski, who was killed helping this country fight its Revolutionary War. And there have been many Polish-oriented celebrations in Pulaski through the years.

But the idea of turning store facades into Polish village look-alikes and dressing in Polish costumes, despite support from then-Mayor Charles Stewart, never caught on.

Today, Pulaski is trying a variety of approaches to attract tourists and rebuild its economy, which suffered as clothing and furniture increasingly went to other countries. Downtown banks have closed. A Wade's store, Pulaski's last downtown grocery, pulled out in 1998. Renfro, a sock manufacturer, idled 315 employees when it shut down in early 2004.

But there are indications that things are turning around.

One businesswoman who left has come back. Pam Whitesell, who closed a popular coffee shop and moved her enterprise to Carroll County, now runs the Hope City Cafe in the town's Maple Shade Business Park, a former shopping center acquired by the town.

What brought her back? "A little bit of homesick and a lot of the mayor's effort. I'd give him 95 percent of the credit," she said.

"She sent me an e-mail around the Fourth of July and said, you know, 'I really miss Pulaski' and I thought, 'Oh oh, she's opened the door,' " said Charles Wade, who has been Pulaski's mayor for about a year and a half. After six or seven more e-mail exchanges, the mayor told her he had the perfect place for her to open up shop. The town staff put it all together in 27 days, he said, and the cafe is now at the Maple Shade park.

Wade also got to talking with the executive director of the Blue Ridge Tourism Association at a regional conference and set things in motion for the Abingdon-based regional booster group to move to the Maple Shade in Pulaski. That office is scheduled to open in January.

The Pulaski County School Board secured a lease on a former downtown bank building and moved its overcrowded facilities to all three floors. The new facilities include a board meeting room, which can be used by other groups.

"There aren't that many rooms that can be used as a meeting room downtown. It can also be used as a training room," said Jim Sandidge, the school system's technology director. "We want to stay downtown."

The biggest boost to Pulaski's economy in the past year is the 800,000-square-footfacility being built on a 51.8-acre site in the Pulaski Business Park by James Hardie Building Products, an Australian-based manufacturer of products for the home construction industry.

The $98 million investment by James Hardie is expected to create some 200 jobs. The new plant is scheduled to start shipping its products by the last quarter of 2006.

John White, the town's economic development director, sees tourism and diversification of the work force as key elements in a Pulaski renaissance. Among many other approaches, White is pushing the concept of a cultural arts center in the Maple Shade Business Park to attract the kind of people to Pulaski who will drive economic development from within, rather than rely on whatever outside businesses might be attracted.

The town has applied for funds to cover architectural plans for such a site and may later apply for construction money, although some Pulaski Town Council members are hesitant about how much money the cash-strapped town will have to put up to land such grants.

"I know there are many people who think it's not the right thing to do. And it may not be," Wade said. But to do nothing is to see taxes continue to go up or services go down, while an investment of taxpayer money may generate new revenue and new people, he said. Besides, he said, tourism is a good deal.

Some say negativism about Pulaski starts with some of its own residents.

"Some of our people have such negative feelings about things, and yet they never help," said Councilwoman Bettye Steger.

"Pulaski does not have any different problems than any other small town," she said. "We work as hard as we can, and we win a few and we lose a few."

"If we want to draw in upscale anything, we're going to have to improve the way we look," said Diana Collins, a cardiology employee at Pulaski Community Hospital.

Ryssel-Flynn agrees. "We need cleanup," she said. "The alleys look horrendous."

Downtown merchants began putting flower beds around the shopping area during the antiques initiative, and the town was supposed to take over that effort, she said, but it has died off. Old trees were removed from Main Street several years ago and never replaced.

The town needs to finish the things it starts, she said.

Maybe this time, Wade said, it will. "Change is difficult, and it's not instantaneous."

Maple Shade Shopping Center holds promise to attract artisans

When the town bought the former Maple Shade Shopping Center, the idea was to bulldoze everything and build a new town museum. After spending some $300,000 for architectural designs and seeing what the price tag for such a development would be, town officials decided they did not want to do that after all.

They were left with a building that looked bad but had potential. So the town changed modes. If the town wanted a museum and cultural center, this seemed to be a place to put it.

The town has applied for a grant to help cover some pre-construction planning. If it comes through, the next step will be designing the facade. Vice Mayor Lane Penn said that will change the appearance of the existing buildings.

The plan now is to move the New River Valley Fine Arts Center from downtown and the Raymond Ratcliffe Memorial Museum, now across from Maple Shade in the town’s former train station building, into more spacious renovated quarters in the Maple Shade. Wade estimated the town is about $71,000 short of what officials think it would take to do the museum properly. Public works can do some of the labor, and grants are still a possibility.

The Maple Shade Business Park already contains the Dollar General store, the Olde Virginia Textiles weaving museum and Hope City Cafe and will house the Blue Ridge Tourism Association. A computer business recently closed its store in the park, but Wade said the town is negotiating with two potential occupants for that space.

“It’s our intent to make that a destination point at the end of the New River Trail,” Wade said.

If he were going to dream, he said, he would have a pavilion in the center of the parking lot, a place for roller skating and ice skating. “I think that’s far in the future but I think it’s not impossible to think about that.”

Town hopes to lure visitors to New River Trail State Park

New River Trail State Park, a linear park on a former Norfolk Southern railroad bed donated to the state, winds through several counties and attracted some 1.4 million hikers, bikers, campers and horseback riders each year. Park officials are estimating that it may draw as many as 2 million next year.

One end of the trail stops at the Pulaski town limits. Town officials have been working for years to provide a walking extension to bring some of those users into town.

Although no completion date has been announced, some officials said the extension could open by spring or early summer.

The plan ties into other efforts to boost recreation opportunities, including upgrades to Gatewood Park. If the Wilderness Road initiative takes off to link communities on what used to be the pioneering routes to the West, it will benefit Pulaski because the route passes right through town.

Former movie house may become downtown destination

The old Pulaski Theatre may be open again by spring.

The facility started as a vaudeville house and later housed a few businesses before becoming a movie theater for many years. It closed as a theater more than 10 years ago, and the property was given to Pulaski County.

County officials considered demolishing the building and using the space for downtown parking. But a group of people who had fond memories of Pulaski’s last movie house formed themselves as Friends of the Pulaski Theatre and took on the task of saving the building.

They stabilized the building, eliminated leaks and other problems and have renovated and purchased new seats for the inside.

The facility, after many years of work on the building, is scheduled to open in the spring as a performance and community center.

Some federal grant money is available for downtown building improvements

The town nailed a $1 million Community Development Block Grant to improve buildings downtown but may have raised expectations too high. The idea was to invest a minimum amount into a number of buildings to make them livable, not so much to finish them.

Developers such as David Allen have become impatient with waiting for financial help from the town and are doing their own thing. “You have to give them credit. They’re stepping up to the plate,” Mayor Charles Wade said.

Allen runs a business on Main Street and has bought some other buildings that he is renovating into three storefronts. He hopes to have them up and running by spring.

“I like doing stuff like that,” he said. “And if I can do it, as an example, why can’t you do it?” Allen said. “Quit waiting for the town to act. You need to act.”

He said he has found too many hoops developers must jump through to qualify for the funding obtained by the town. “I just can’t wait on the town. That’s not how I got this far,” he said.

Gardens, paths dominate new Dora Highway park

Heritage Park on Dora Highway is being built on the south side of town across the railroad tracks. It is being done in phases to include a garden area.

Seven gardens have been planted, plus walking trails have been developed. It may all be done by mid-2006.

A community college teacher did the landscape architectural work. High school students designed some of the structures. Two are sitting outside the high school now, built there for the town to install.

Four structures are part of the park. A gazebo is being financed by private donations. An industry is furnishing money and labor to build a shelter. Pulaski Community Hospital has done most of the rest. One doctor donated $1,000. Others have donated $100 here and there. The town sponsored the project but most has been funded privately.