This summer's going to be a little more lively in Port Byron, thanks to a few devoted residents.

Over the years, Port Byron has had a spell of bad luck and hard times. Industries packed up and left, families long rooted in the area moved elsewhere and the town generally lost its luster. Those who have remained, like interior designer Mary Vitale-Redmond, took notice.

"It was almost to a point that if you were from Port Byron, you didn't want to admit it," she said. "We want kids to be proud of the village."

So Vitale-Redmond, some friends and fellow residents set about to re-instill that pride. Over the last year, the Port Byron Revitalization Committee, which includes Vitale-Redmond, Karen Thomas-Lillie, Stephanie Mills, Mike Riley, Peter Marshall, Jack O'Neil, Ron Wilson and Dwight Wethey, have been working to organize a number of projects throughout the town.

And they are starting to see results.

So far, the group's docket includes two community murals, a farmer's market and family night, a historical canal walk during National Preservation Week, a grant proposal for a Main Street New York grant through the state, and the renovation of the Old Hotel and Historic Mentz Church. The projects are not solely those of the committee, but they've had a hand in jump-starting them all.

It's difficult to determine which undertaking is the most intense for the committee. They have all required a Herculean amount of forethought and planning and as yet, they are still not sure how it will all pan out. But Thomas-Lillie is optimistic and with good reason.

"At the beginning, the response from the community was 'Good luck.' But little by little it's been picking up," she said. "People are already interested. I think they were just waiting for somebody to do something."

The group's first order of business is getting two murals painted on buildings in the center of the village. Starting May 1, Dawn Jordan, a local artist and graphic designer, will begin work on the murals, set to be painted on the old Shopping Guide building on Route 38.

The murals will portray a historic Port Byron with the canal boats the village was known for, as well as a future view of the village, one the revitalization committee hopes will be a marked improvement on the area's current state.

"We thought of Dawn Jordan immediately for the murals. She's very into improving rural areas and she has an appreciation for history," Thomas-Lillie said.

The group secured funding for the art project through the Finger Lakes Arts, Grants and Services Inc., a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting arts in Central New York. This experience in grant writing helped the group take on their next endeavor - applying for the Main Street New York grant.

The grant, administered through the state Division of Housing and Community, provides recipients with $200,000 for streetscape enhancements and facade and interior building renovations. With the help of Trish Ottley, a community development planner with the Cayuga County Office of Planning and Economic Development and Homsite, the village applied for the grant last year but did not receive it.

This year, Ottley has helped the village draft a new grant proposal and is hopeful it will be accepted; they hope to find out its status in late summer.

"We're hoping to address deteriorating buildings and facades," Ottley said.

It's not just the revitalization committee that's behind this grant proposal; the whole community has been supportive, Ottley said, because the whole community benefits in the end.

"It's a great community to work within. There's been a lot of response and there's a lot of enthusiasm for making improvements in the area and revitalizing it," she said. "They're wonderful. They're very committed."

If Port Byron gets the grant, Homsite will be in charge of doling it out to people who want to fix up the area. Commercial and residential property owners may receive money to ostensibly beautify their buildings, inside and out.

Ottley and the committee are keeping their fingers crossed that they get the grant, which would be a major step in the revitalization process. They have already retained the services of Jim Kent, a landscape architect who is helping the village map out a plan for revamping the area.

"There's a lot of energy and ideas here. They're not afraid of new ideas," Ottley said.

Proving Ottley's contention that the village of Port Byron is willing to think creatively in order to address some of its problems, Vitale-Redmond suggested to the committee that they try to institute a farmer's market in Port Byron over the summer. The result of their brainstorming isn't just a farmer's market - it's a family outing.

The weekly Wednesday event will be called Summer in Schasel Park, which will host the market. Every Wednesday from June 22 to the middle of September, there will be a farmer's market and once a month, shoppers will be treated to live music from local bands sponsored by the Port Byron Pit Stop Convenience Store.

Thomas-Lillie said they already have about 15 local vendors selling produce, flowers and wine and interest just keeps growing. Vitale-Redmond, whose cousin Ben Vitale runs the Regional Market in Syracuse, said the inspiration for the market came from the region itself.

"We're lucky to be right in the middle of such agricultural diversity. There are quite a few farms in Port Byron and the surrounding area," she said.

If all goes well with the farmer's market, Vitale-Redmond believes it will make Port Byron that much more attractive, not just because they'll be making good use of the park, but because people won't have to drive far for their fresh produce.

For Karen Thomas-Lillie, working on the committee is about giving back to the community instead of complaining about it.

"It's really a low self-esteem issue because there's nothing nice to look at and outside of school there's nothing for kids," she said.

"Our long-term goal is to have a downtown area that we can be proud of and that people want to come to."

Staff writer Lauren Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or lauren.ober@lee.net