“The lights are much brighter there You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares So go downtown Things will be great when you’re downtown No finer place for sure downtown Everything’s waiting for you.”

— “Downtown” by Petula Clark

When Petula Clark’s hit song came out in 1964, it romanticized life in America’s many downtowns. And in Lumberton, N.C., things couldn’t have been more true.

McMillian Drugs, Belk, Effird’s, the Children’s Shop, the Fashion Bar and the Lorraine Hotel were all fixtures there. Local clothiers Sugar’s, Fleishman’s and Weintstein’s had shops there, and the Carolina Theatre provided family nightlife.

“It was thriving. Full of life, the hub of town activity,” said Blake Tyner, local author and historian.

As a boy in the 1970s, I can remember Woods’ Dime Store and McDuffie Books. On Saturdays, we’d often be roused from our morning cartoons to “go to town,” which meant a trip to downtown Lumberton. For a short time, my dad worked at the historic fire station behind the Robeson County Public Library. He even slid down the fireman’s pole with me a few times. Those were great memories.

But like many other downtowns in America, a slow demise began in the 1970s and escalated in the 1980s. By then the Carolina Theatre had closed and would be reclaimed a decade later as the Carolina Civic Center. Thanks to its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the building avoided demolition and got major renovations. But many businesses moved to shopping malls or just closed for good, and many of the buildings fell into disrepair. For a time it seemed that the good ol’ days were gone for good.

Things are changing again, and a new energy is happening in Lumberton’s downtown, one fueled heavily by the arts. Activities like Rumba on the Lumber (and the Chili Cookoff) and Alive After Five, to name a couple, hold annual events in the downtown plaza. Two years ago, the Robeson County Arts Council repurposed the old Kimbrell’s Furniture building for a pop-up art exhibit. A few months later an artist was hired to create a huge mural on the side of a building on Elm Street. And things kept going …

Last year, local artist Melvin Morris donated a metal sculpture to the city and it is now displayed in the plaza, where a brand-new splash pad has been installed in front of the amphitheater stage. Morris, along with a CrossFit exercise business, has taken over the old Kimbrell’s building and Morris is opening a gallery and event space for the community. The Robeson County Arts Council will also find a home there.

Lumberton is now among 1,200 communities in America to have an affiliation with Main Street America, a nonprofit organization supporting revitalization like the ones in Lumberton. Those efforts have produced a river walkway, the splash pad and other beautification projects. The Carolina Civic Center expects to soon expand its venue and facility (just across the street from Morris’ Inner Peace Arts Center), and local businessman Dick Taylor has donated land where the mural was created in 2019 by artist Scott Nurkin. A pocket park will go there, and more art and murals are being planned. As evidenced by Main Street America, downtown revitalization often starts with creative projects like this.

Next week, the Robeson County Arts Council will sponsor its annual Arts on Elm event, which feeds into downtown Lumberton and a Food Truck Festival is also being planned. Additionally, Alberto’s Greek Food now has a regular place on the plaza and Happenings on Elm has been open now for several months. Located on Elm Street, across from the Branch and Musselwhite law firm (and where the old Fashion Bar stood for decades), Happenings on Elm is a trendy little restaurant featuring the work of local artists along with craft beer and wine. It is a perfect fit and an ideal catalyst for arts-fed revitalization.

Downtowns are en vogue again, and Lumberton is taking aggressive and strategic steps toward revitalization of its downtown. Like many other cities where this is happening, the arts are leading these efforts, and a re-imagining of downtown is becoming a reality.

I think Petula Clark would be proud of us.