MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Montpelier's bustling little downtown has gotten ahead by staying behind.

The city of 8,000 residents is the nation's smallest state capital, according to U.S. Census population figures.

Its population is less than half the city of Augusta's.

But you sure wouldn't know that from looking at its bustling downtown.

Even on a cold, rainy day, a steady flow of pedestrians roamed the streets of its compact downtown, tucked alongside two branches of the Winooski River that converge into one in the middle of the city.

But don't rely on what you see.

Suzanne Hechmer, executive director of the Montpelier Downtown Community Association, has the numbers, thanks to a pedestrian counter watching the street near Montpelier City Hall.

An average of 2,323 pedestrians walk by the counter daily.

"I think what Montpelier has going for it is we didn't lose the traditional, walking downtown between the 1950s and 1990s, when suburbanization really took off," said Hechmer, leader of the nonprofit organization affiliated with the National Main Street Program.

The Maine cities of Augusta and Gardiner also are members.

"Now, people are going back to more walkable places," she said. "People are trying to imitate what we never lost. That's important for a downtown. If you don't have pedestrian traffic, you can't cut it."

MAIN STREET, AMERICA

People come to Montpelier to shop, watch movies at one of two theaters -- one mainstream, the other showing more independent films -- attend classes at one of three post-secondary schools, including the renowned New England Culinary Institute, go to the public Kellogg-Hubbard Library, do business in one of the many downtown state office buildings, including the Vermont Statehouse itself, or go to work at a downtown business.

"It's a true Main Street, America," said Andrew Brewer, owner of Onion River Sports people-powered recreational equipment store, who was born and raised in the area. "But it's not that we're trying to hold on to Americana; it's a working downtown. I don't think anybody can take credit for it. It's not like this town and its citizens set out on a deliberate effort to be something. But it is a deliberate attempt to keep it."

Roughly 100 small businesses are the dominant retail force downtown. The downtown is nearly devoid of major chain stores, other than a Rite Aid, Subway, and a small Shaw's supermarket.

"We don't have any big retailers, we're all momsy-popsy," said Raymond Sunde, a state Bureau of General Services employee and Montpelier resident, originally from Connecticut.

There's a toy store, multiple women's clothing boutiques, a travel agency, insurance agencies, several bookstores, coffee shops, and numerous restaurants.

NO BIG BOXES -- OR BOXERS

But if you're looking for a cheap pair of men's underwear, you're probably going to have to shop elsewhere, noted Fred Wilber, 34-year-owner of Buch Spieler Music just off Main Street, where bins of the latest CDs have a dozen or so rubber chickens hanging from the ceiling above them and milk crates full of old record albums stashed underneath.

Asked if people are still buying albums, Wilber responds with a world-weary-sounding "No."

He said while you may be able to find a boutique with men's silk underwear in Montpelier, plain old undergarments for a guy mean a trip to a neighboring town, perhaps to Berlin, where there is a JC Penney and even a small Wal-Mart.

Not that Wilber, himself, would go to the Wal-Mart, which he refers to as the evil empire. He said he was involved in an anti-Berlin-mall effort some 25 years ago.

"Fortunately, we don't have that many big boxes here," Wilber said. "There's a captured market with the state offices here, and it's also a fairly major tourist draw, being the smallest state capital, and the whole mystique of Vermont.

"Tourists are always telling us, 'You have something here we don't have where we came from anymore.' It's like the Joni Mitchell song, (Big Yellow Taxi) 'You don't know what you got till it's gone.' But I also think some of it is an illusion. A lot of businesses in town are hobby businesses. Their spouse or partner has the major money-making job, some of the stores are just someone's hobby."

Still, Wilber said he wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the country than central Vermont.

"It's a great place to live, with a very strong sense of community," he said. "There's a consciousness here of 'I'm not going to go to the big box store.' There's an energy and a commitment to really make things happen here. But it's a commitment. It's work. It's still a real struggle. People will say it's not, but it is.

I don't know anybody in this city who is getting rich."

PAY TO PARK

Of course, Montpelier doesn't claim to have a perfect downtown.

For starters, with the busy downtown comes a demand for parking. Nearly all of the public downtown parking spaces, even those off-street, have parking meters. It can be hard to find a parking space, especially when the legislature is in session, several locals said.

But most say parking issues are an indicator of a busy downtown. And they'll take tight parking over the alternative of a vacant downtown no one wants to come to.

"There's never enough parking, that's an ongoing discussion," said Claire Benedict, who lives in the city and owns two bookstores with her husband Robert Kasow. "But if we didn't have a parking problem, we wouldn't have a thriving downtown."

Downtown resident Cal Wade said he'd like to see better public transportation in the city.

"Not being able to travel, it's kind of like being a prisoner in your own town," he said while browsing at one of Benedict's bookstores, Bear Pond Books.

Hooper said Green Mountain Transit does offer bus service to nearby communities like Barre and Waterbury, but said the city could use a better public transportation system.

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com