Home folk and visitors alike duck in and out of Main Street's brick-walled, tree-lined collection of shops, restaurants and offices. They pack their picnic baskets, lawn chairs and coolers and flock to the Concert on the Green series and other events at the corner of N.C. 115 and Concord Road, on a patch of grass that might as well be a red carpet.

With a big assist from Davidson College (the municipality's original official name was Davidson College, after all), downtown is the true heart of Davidson. Ask folks to identify the hearts of Huntersville and Cornelius, though, and "downtown" is not likely to be among the most-popular answers.

In Huntersville, for example, even the town's administrators have adopted Birkdale Village — barely a decade old and some five miles from the historical town center — as a de facto downtown and site of many of the town's official ceremonies. Meanwhile, Huntersville's original Main Street has been reduced to a lightly used side street along the Norfolk Southern rail line (a fate that likely would be altered if the Red Line Regional Rail project is pushed through, opening commuter service from Charlotte to Mooresville).

And while Cornelius has an identifiable downtown, its economic engine revs hottest across I-77 (and the planned "diverging diamond" interchange) along the newly divided West Catawba Avenue, and in the posh Peninsula community and other lakefront developments.

In terms of imagery, Cornelius and Huntersville conjure visions of suburbia. For Davidson, it's Main Street USA (although with a Ph.D., perhaps). Much of Davidson's development has been the result of the town's knowing when to get out of its own way. But Davidson's downtown life also is the product of some deliberate strategy, and the realization by town leaders that envisioning what Main Street Davidson could be was the first step in getting there.

Now, the town and Downtown Davidson Inc. (DDI — a non-profit created by the town to serve as an incubator of sorts for downtown development) have formed a public-private partnership called the Davidson Civic Investment Commission (DCIC), which will focus on articulating Davidson's economic development vision and setting priorities for economic development for the town.

At its annual meeting in October, DDI's Board of Directors voted unanimously to transfer the organization's 501(c)3 status to the DCIC. The move had been in the works for months, as DDI and the town held a series of meetings to determine the best direction for the organization, which historically has been made up of downtown merchants, but now will look to broaden its focus.

The DCIC will follow the four-point approach of the N.C. Main Street Program of the N.C. Department of Commerce, and will have advisory, marketing, design and economic development committees.

Margo Williams, who stepped down from her Davidson Town Board seat last week, will chair the Advisory Committee. The other DCIC members include:

• Sally Ashworth, executive director of Visit Lake Norman.

• Town Manager Leamon Brice.

• Assistant Town Manager Dawn Blobaum.

• Jerry Broadway, executive director of the Lake Norman Regional Economic Development Corp.

• Davidson Downtown Manager Kim Flemming.

• Ed Kania, vice president of finance and administration at Davidson College.

• Former Davidson Commissioner Bruce McMillan.

• Kathleen Rose, a business owner and consultant.

• David Stewart of the Stewart Group, a real estate investment firm.

"The formation of the DCIC shows just how dedicated both DDI and the town are to supporting the town's entrepreneurs and to fostering a spirit of innovative economic development in Davidson," says Mayor John Woods. "I see great things ahead for this partnership."

Williams added that while the cooperation is nothing new, the energy is building.

"This is a natural evolution of our exploration of ways to support our downtown and our other commercial areas," she says. "The most exciting thing about it is the support that's coming from the people who have long been involved in supporting downtown and from our business owners, new and established. If we work together, there's nothing we can't do."