Good news had Robbins rolling out the barrel.

When the town heard it would be one of 20 chosen — out of 85 original applicants — for NC STEP (Small Towns Economic Prosperity, a test program in economic development), excitement spread faster than rumor through this small village at the heart of Moore County’s foothills.

“I think people got even more excited than they did when (Sen. John) Kerry picked John Edwards,” said Noah Phillips, president of Northern Moore Tomorrow. “There wasn’t any politics involved. This was something everybody could shout about.”

In the old days, when Robbins was a buzzing beehive of business, backed by manufacturing, and before e-mail, there was a simple way to spread news.

They used to roll a barrel out into the middle of the street near the railroad station and the towering water tank where steam engines filled their tenders. The barrel had a sign on it telling what needed to be told.

These days, an electric billboard on a downtown brick wall gives illuminated notice of important events.

But sometimes they roll out an old barrel anyway. That happened again after word came to town hall about NC STEP. And this time, the barrel wore balloons.

Billboard and barrel were late with the news. Grapevine and gossip worked faster.

“I got e-mails on this — I got telephone calls on it,” Phillips said. “Kinza came in from next door to show me the balloons. About the only thing that didn’t happen was swinging from one tree to another.

“She put two or three balloons on the barrel, but it was a windy day and only one of them survived.”

NC STEP is a big deal for Robbins.

Manufacturers have moved out, mills have shut down. Buildings that once hummed with workers are now vacant or turned into warehouses with only a skeleton staff.

Twenty applicants representing 32 small towns across the state are to be part of N.C. Small Towns Economic Prosperity (NC STEP) over three years.

NC STEP is part of the center’s Small Towns Initiative, a program launched in November 2005 to help find ways to revitalize North Carolina’s economically distressed towns of fewer than 10,000 residents.

“Small towns are the heart and soul of North Carolina, but so many of them today are struggling just to survive in this new economy,” said Rural Center President Billy Ray Hall. “They have tremendous potential, and this demonstration program is going to support their journey toward economic prosperity.”

The program will open doors to economic opportunity by allowing small towns to develop and accelerate development projects, according to Hall.

Robbins and other sites will receive $20,000 in planning funds to develop its initiatives and will be eligible to receive up to $200,000 in grants to implement local projects. In addition, the towns will receive training and coaching assistance and will have opportunities for global networking during the program’s three-year plan of work.

As they develop and initiate their projects, demonstration sites will have the benefit of one-on-one assistance from community development specialists and will receive valuable information and training through workshops ranging from brownfield development and historic preservation to financial and infrastructure issues.

The General Assembly appropriated $10.5 million to fund the Small Towns Initiative, a “broad-based effort to bring greater prosperity and a better quality of life to North Carolina towns of fewer than 10,000 residents.”

The idea is to aim state resources at small towns like Robbins that are experiencing economic hardship. It means to: