Main Street is an action-oriented program that is helping revitalize downtowns across the nation, says Karen Bode Baxter, a consultant who admits to a near evangelical belief in its merits.

Bode Baxter provided a two-hour-long outline Tuesday night of how the program works and could be started in Cape Girardeau. A group of about 30 downtown business people and other residents attended the informational program at the Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant.

"First there has to be a consensus on what you want to do," she said. "If you decide to do Main Street, then you want to go to work."

The program helps communities revitalize their downtowns through a four-point plan of economic restructuring, design, promotion and organization. It was started by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and emphasizes economic growth in the context of historic preservation.

Bode Baxter formerly was the program manager at Grinnell, Iowa. Considered one of the most successful Main Street programs in the nation, it has resulted in the reinvestment of about $3 million in buildings and creation of a festival now attended by 10,000 people, she said.

The automobile began the decline of American downtowns after World War II, Bode Baxter said, creating a more mobile society not dependent on downtowns.

"But downtown is still the heart of your community," she said. "If you lose the heart of your community it's very hard to retain your community."

She said Cape Girardeau's downtown "is not that bad by a long shot" and praised its stock of historic buildings.

Small retailers downtown can't compete with the malls head-to-head, she said, but downtowns can compete if they coordinate the retail mix, marketing strategies and visual merchandising techniques.

Bode Baxter said a Main Street program usually takes from two to five years to get running. Cape Girardeau's program would have to be self-initiated because the state Department of Economic Development has no funding available for additional programs.

Some state assistance would still be available, but she said most funding would have to come from local sources.

In some successful programs, the city pays for one-third of the estimated $50,000 in annual administrative costs, she said.

Volunteers are also plentiful in successful programs, which invariably include a cross section of people and groups, she said.

"It's a public-private partnership."

Also attending the meeting was Karen Golden, a community development specialist from the Missouri Department of Economic Development's regional office in Dexter.