HAYMARKET, Va. -- The economic slump in this tiny town hard by Bull Run Mountain began with an invasion of Union soldiers, who burned it to the ground on Nov. 4, 1862. Once a thriving commercial center, Haymarket never regained its prewar prominence.
This week brought another army -- the media hordes who descended on Haymarket after news leaked out the Walt Disney Co. was planning to build a $1 billion American history theme park on a 2,000-acre tract just outside this town of some 472 souls.
By yesterday, any resident who ventured onto the street ran the risk of being filmed, photographed, interviewed or otherwise immortalized. But 'Haymarketeers,' as one local wit dubbed them, bore the scrutiny with remarkable good humor, for many of them saw in this invasion a sign of renewed prosperity for a town that history had seemed to pass by.
At the town hall, Haymarket Historical Society Chairwoman Sarah Turner was entertaining high hopes that Disney would pitch in with money and expertise to help the town celebrate its bicentennial in 1999, the year after the park is scheduled to open.
"Everyone was very excited about it. They were just like little children about it," said Ms. Turner. She added that people all over town were getting calls from real estate brokers.
In Gossom's Hardware Store yesterday, owner Tim Everett triumphantly displayed a local newspaper with the headline "DISNEY YES," while his 7-year-old daughter pleaded with him to take her to the Disney park tomorrow morning.
Mr. Everett said Haymarket, located southwest of Washington where the suburbs merge into rural Virginia, has been badly hurt by widespread layoffs and the collapse of the Prince William County real estate market.
The town's only pharmacy closed just last month, he said, following on the heels of its only real estate office. His own annual sales have dropped from $1 million to $480,000 in the past four years, he said.
"There's just been such a gloom over this county the past four to five years," he said, adding that Disney's coming might be just what it takes to keep him in business.
Down the street at Matthew's Restaurant, the town's main gathering place, co-owner Debbie Berg was feeling anything but gloomy. Just two days before, she and her father were planning to sell the restaurant because of slumping business. When she heard the news, she called him in Florida to suggest they reconsider.
"I can't see any negatives," she said.
