Gil Smith said he has decided not to participate in the economic downturn. While businesses around the country are slowing down, struggling or closing, Smith and his wife Karen, owners of Fallon's Restaurant, decided to open four more.

"This is our dream," said Smith. "Our dream is to make something that will make a difference in the community."

The XXX couple did elect to be part of Celebration Square, a residential and commercial development constructed to mirror a 1950s-style downtown and a complement to Mayberry Hills, the residential development across Virginia 122 that was built in the same fashion.

"We're trying to re-create the Mayberry experience from the TV show," said Smith. "One of the things that was important was that people were always just hanging out, enjoying the town and the people of the town."

Some of those cornerstone hangouts, he said, were the ice cream shop, pizza parlor, country store and family restaurant. He and his wife decided to open all four.

Another malted, please

A young girl tottered into Freckles Ice Cream Parlor last week, her eyes sparkling as she placed her order: chocolate ice cream on a child's cone. It wasn't long before her face was covered with the treat.

The shop was named after another young child, but one with freckles on his face, rather than chocolate.

"Freckles was my father-in-law's nickname when he was a child," said Smith. "He had quite a few of them."

The ice cream parlor is decorated like a 1950s malt shop, he said, with sparkling red bar stools and checkered floors. Its employees, or soda jerks, are donned in white pants and dress shirts with red bow ties and the iconic white paper hat.

They serve up ice cream, sundaes, floats, milk shakes, egg creams and, of course, malts.

"It's a small shop; we're not going to carry 45 flavors," said Smith.

The flavors will be fairly consistent, including standards, with a few specialties such as peppermint, mint chocolate chip, cookies and cream, cinnamon and birthday cake thrown in.

"Birthday cake has been selling really well," said Smith. "It tastes just like a birthday cake with icing."

Freckles has a rotating special which changes when the bin empties. The current special is spumoni, an Italian-inspired combination of pistachio, cherry and chocolate.

For diabetics and low-carb dieters, the shop offers sugar-free vanilla. For canine friends, there's a doggie sundae.

"It's a little bit of vanilla ice cream in a cup and a dog cookie," said Smith.

Although dogs are not allowed inside the shop, he said the soda jerks will bring one out for the pooches waiting outdoors. A few have already come by.

"They loved it," said Smith. "They usually go for the ice cream first and then the cookie."

Make mine pepperoni

Downtown Pizzeria is decorated like Arnold's from the TV show "Happy Days," with college pennants adorning its walls. But instead of Marquette and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, diners will see Virginia Tech, UVa, Duke and Notre Dame, among others.

The menu, however, is all its own with New York-style thin-crust pizza and a choice of about 20 toppings. The pizza dough and sauces are made from scratch; you'll see cooks tossing dough into the air to form the perfect crust. Although pepperoni is the most popular, said Smith, there are a few speciality pizzas gaining ground.

Lasagna pizza features meatball, sausage, ricotta cheese, fresh garlic and extra sauce. Margarita Pie has mozzarella, ricotta, fresh garlic, fresh basil and sliced tomatoes.

"The Margarita Pie is really popular," said Smith.

While the pizzeria has only been open for about two weeks, he said customers have been coming back two, three and four times for a pizza pie.

"It's just taken off like gangbusters," said Smith. "Day one was busy, day two was really busy, and it's been crazy ever since."

In addition to pizza, the diner serves calzones, stromboli, zamboni, Italian sandwiches, pasta dishes such as eggplant Parmesan, salads and sides.

Eventually, Smith said, they'll start making deliveries within a few miles of the pizzeria, which would make them the only pizza place at the lake that delivers.

One pound, thinly sliced

The Smiths went through a lot of bread for Hawk's Country Store & Deli. Bread rolls, that is. The couple travels often and fell in love with a hard roll they had eaten up north.

"It took us two years to find the rolls we're using," said Smith. "It took us a long time to find a supplier to make that roll."

The hard rolls are the signature ingredient in many of the breakfast and lunch sandwiches served at the deli. Or residents can make their own sandwiches at home, as the store also sells freshly sliced sandwich meats, including smoked turkey, roast beef, ham, salami, chicken and prosciutto.

"We really felt there was a need around here for freshly sliced deli meats and sandwiches," said Smith.

The store also sells household staples such as milk, eggs, bread and paper products, as well as convenience store goods such as chips and candy.

Hawk's, which was named after Smith's son-in-law's grandfather, was decorated to resemble an old country store. The floor and walls are simulated wood. Signs placed throughout include tongue-in-cheek humorous phrases such as "Give a man an inch and he thinks he's a ruler."

To top off the look, Smith said he'd like to incorporate an old barrel with a checkerboard on top where customers can stop by and play a game or two, just like they did in Mayberry.

Table for two

The anchor of Celebration Square, said Smith, will be Casa D'Amici. The Italian restaurant, translated "House of Friends," is set to open around Labor Day.

With more than 160 indoor seats and 25 to 30 outdoor, Smith said he hopes the restaurant will become a destination for people from surrounding cities such as Roanoke, Lynchburg and Bedford, who will come for the cooking and the atmosphere.

"We'll have good, home-style Italian cooking," said Smith, adding that some recipes were passed down through his wife's Italian family.

"We've been trying out recipes for six to eight months," he said. "Most of our employees from Fallon's were taste testers."

But it's not just the food that will draw the crowds, said Smith. He believes they'll also come for the decor, including a floor-to-ceiling waterfall, floor-to-ceiling wine rack and bronze wishing well adorned with cherubs.

Three private dining rooms have been designed by Elegant Design by Sheryl to mimic family kitchens. Smith said the kitchen design was chosen because it's where most people hang out when visiting friends for dinner.

"We tried to make it so that people say to their friends, 'You've got to see this place,'" said Smith.

Celebration Square is located at the intersection of Virginias 122 and 608. Freckles, (540) 297-2138. Downtown Pizzeria, (540) 297-1269. Hawk's Country Store & Deli, (540) 296-0975. Casa D'Amici, (540) 296-1329.