STEUBENVILLE — At 23, Therese Nelson is far too young to remember Steubenville in its heyday, when the downtown was lined with shoppers and locally owned businesses.

That hasn’t stopped her from dreaming big.

“I want to stay here, near my parents, and I want all my siblings to stay here, too,” said Nelson, the creative force behind Steubenville’s Nutcracker Village and architect of First Fridays on Fourth, events that have brought literally thousands of people into the downtown area. “To build a family here, you have to have a good community with less crime, a beautiful downtown, beautiful attitudes. Crime stems from things that are broken … people see one broken window and they think, ‘What’s another?’ If you keep things whole, keep things nice, it’s a lot less likely people will trash them.”

If perceptions matter as much as Nelson says, then community leaders feel like they’re on the right track: As many as 35,000 people from across the U.S. visited Steubenville’s Nutcracker Village in 2017, a number organizers say “grows every year.” Other attractions — among them, First Fridays on Fourth, the Summer Concert Series at Historic Fort Steuben, Dean Martin Festival/Steubenville Hometown Celebration and Frontier Days — also are much-needed downtown attention-getters.

“It’s diminished the fear factor,” Mayor Jerry Barilla said. “We have grandmas coming down here with their grandkids at 10 or 11 at night. We’ve never had one person ever in the last three years of Nutcracker Village saying anything about being afraid or having to walk a couple blocks to get here. That shows you how increased numbers, light and cleanliness can defeat negativity.”

It was enough to convince Ashley Byers that the time and place were right for her to pursue her entrepreneurial dream.

“It just seemed like the right fit,” said Byers, who opened Ashley’s Home Decor & More on 104 S. Fourth St., a couple months ago. “I didn’t think it would be this good, this quick,” Byers said.

That’s exactly the reaction community leaders were hoping for.

“I follow this guy, Roger Brooks, who’s known for revitalizing downtowns,” Barilla said. “He says there are 20 ingredients you need … one of the major ones is having activities downtown at least 250 days out of the year, whether that’s two guys playing instruments or something else. Activity brings the people and business follows. It’s not business first, it’s people first.”

And it’s no coincidence that the resurgence of downtown comes at a time when malls across America are failing — particularly ironic since, just about 40 years ago, it was the ascent of shopping malls that dealt downtowns across America a death blow.

“I’m not saying I didn’t go to them myself, they were new and exciting,” Barilla recalls. “But when you close a store, then there are no lights in the windows … debris blows into doorway areas, there’s nobody sweeping the sidewalks. People see dark windows, dirty storefronts and walkways. That’s when the fear factor enters the picture. It just projects a negative atmosphere, and people stay away.

“But malls are having issues now, the pendulum is swinging back and downtowns are a cool place to hang out.”

Nelson measures the cool factor by the growth she’s seeing in the downtown business community.

“There are more businesses opening up,” Nelson said. “At least three opened since our first First Friday. I’m not going to say we take credit for that, but we know people see nice stores down there now, they see people, they see how you have a chance to make money now because there are patrons.

“We still have a long way to go, but I think it’s important that young people who didn’t see Steubenville in its heyday come with new ideas, new vision. Steubenville’s not going to be a steel town again, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be a real town. Attitudes are definitely changing and the culture of Steubenville is turning around. One of the bigger things for me is on First Friday, seeing all the different subsets of people getting together and everybody having a good time doing the same thing. You’ve got Franciscan (University of Steubenville) students, their friends, staff and families of staff members, locals, low income families … you have Hispanics, blacks and Asians, just every variety of people. It’s cool to see them all come together to do things together. Before, that didn’t happen a lot in Steubenville.”

Shop owner Mary Ann Freeze said it’s nice to see attitudes changing, though after years of decline she admits not everyone has her same level of comfort being downtown.

“I’m not typical,” said Freeze, a Steubenville native who came home about five years ago after nearly three decades in Alabama to open the Prodigal Daughter Treasures and Trinkets, 164 N. Fourth St.

“I’m not nervous or afraid to be down here at night. I’ve walked from the store to the city building for a council meeting, then back to the store and it hasn’t been a problem. I walk around town after dark and I’m not nervous about being here. But I understand as a woman, for a lot of women, it makes them uncomfortable but I’ve never even been nervous when I’m down here.”

Freeze may not be, but even she admits it might take a while for the feeling to spread.

“I think it’s going to take people coming here on a Saturday, getting them to come down and get a coffee, maybe stop in at my shop and the one (Ashley’s Home Decor & More) across from the Grand Theater. It’s going to take people coming down and wandering around for an hour and kinda’ looking at things. It’s going to take them being outside their cars in the downtown and taking their time looking around. Once people start doing that again, it becomes a habit — it became a habit for people to not come downtown, so getting them to come down here again can be a habit again.”

Kimberly Hahn said it’s surprising how quickly some in the community made the leap.

“Before when we would propose things downtown, so many people said they would never go there because it wasn’t safe, it was empty,” said Hahn, Steubenville’s councilwoman at large. “What’s been such a surprise to people is that they feel safe down here the entire time.”

And that’s key, Judy Bratten said.

“I think the big thing is the public’s perception of downtown has changed,” said Bratten, executive director of Historic Fort Steuben. “The summer concerts have helped, having people downtown at night has helped, all the little shops … the coffee shops, the popcorn shop, the gift shops … are busy, people coming through town know they have places to stop. I’m very hopeful: I know we’re going to face roadblocks, but we’ve already come this far. I’m sure it’s been a surprise to people.”