City's reputation gets a makeover.

• Position: Special Advertising Section: Regional Focus - Brief Article

Fayettenam. There it is -- the nickname the city of Fayetteville has had to live down since the 1960s and 1970s. Just as bad was the reputation for boozing, brawling and bars -- especially the topless kind.

But residents say they're tired of just accepting the jokes, smirks and putdowns of the state's sixth-largest city, with a population of more than 121,000. "We in Fayetteville have struggled for a long time with the negative image," Mayor Marshall Pitts says. The reality of the town has changed, though many people don't realize it. "But we're not going to keep this secret to ourselves any more."

Residents point to crime statistics as one way of showing that the city's bad reputation is undeserved. The N.C. Department of Justice's Uniform Crime Report says Cumberland County's crime rate dropped 1.1% from 2000 to 2001, to 6,356.5 per 100,000 people. That's lower than such counties as Dare, Durham, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, New Hanover and Pitt, yet Fayetteville is perceived as a rough town.

Residents have resolved to do something about that. The genesis of their efforts came a year ago, when the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, the Fayetteville Area Economic Development Corp. and the Downtown Development Corp. began discussing a merger. That didn't happen, but the groups did agree to form an umbrella organization, Greater Fayetteville Futures, to work jointly on economic development and improving the city's image. In February, at one of Greater Fayetteville Futures' first meetings, organizers hoped 150 people would attend and devise 15 projects for the group's first 100 days. Twice that many people showed up, and they came up with 60 projects.

Key among those was finding a slogan for the city. For that, Greater Fayetteville Futures spent $25,000 to hire Brogan & Partners, a Detroit-based marketing company with an office in Cary. Brogan came up with four and put them to a community vote. On June 14, Greater Fayetteville Futures unveiled the words it hopes will help erase the image of Fayettenam forever: "Greater Fayetteville. History. Heroes. And a Hometown Feeling."

About that history: Fayetteville was born in 1783 when two early settlements, Campbellton and Cross Creek, merged. The new town became the first to be named after Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette. According to legend, it is the only U.S. city named after him that he ever visited.

The town grew first because of a thriving trade along the Cape Fear River and later because of the textile industry that the river made possible. In 1918, an army base was founded northwest of town on 127,000 acres of sand hills and pine forests. It was named Camp Bragg, after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. The next year, the War Department founded Pope Air Force Base, named after an early aviator who crashed into the Cape Fear River, adjacent to the army installation. Three years later, Camp Bragg was renamed Fort Bragg.

Today, Fort Bragg and Pope are home to more than 50,000 troops, including the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. And while soldiers may have given rise to some of Fayetteville's old reputation, newfound respect for the troops, especially in light of the War on Terrorism, is helping to erase those feelings.

Greater Fayetteville Futures isn't counting on a slogan, or better feeling toward military personnel, to do its work. The group's plans call for more economic development, increased efforts to attract tourists and greater awareness of the city's assets by its residents, to help change the way people, particularly fellow Tar Heels, feel about Fayetteville.

One of the biggest steps will come next year, when the eyes of the world will be turned to North Carolina for the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight. Fayetteville believes its fortunes will soar when the city hosts the 11-day Festival of Flight (see related story, page 52). The event is expected to attract 500,000 people, including, organizers hope, business executives. "We want to promote the city and to tell those doing business with military bases in the eastern part of the state, 'Hey, you may want to locate your business here,' "says Gordon Clapp, president and CEO of the Festival of Flight.

If they do, they will find a lot more than the retail-based economy they might expect from a military town. Fayetteville has...