The arts officially found a home in Apex when the Halle Cultural Arts Center opened recently, but take a tour through the Peak City's vibrant downtown and you'll soon find that art was already well and alive throughout the Western Wake city.

Artisans and the crafts they sell have become some of the main tenants in a downtown that's quickly becoming the envy of its neighbors.

Since the 1980s, thanks to town grants and shopkeeper gumption, downtown Apex storefronts have bustled into life, awakened from their 1960s strip mall-induced purgatory.

Behind each storefront sits one of the stories of how it happened, and how artists have long helped paint the picture of a healthier downtown.

"We were one of the first ones here," said Beverly Fuller from the artisan shop she runs with husband Bob. Located at 120 N. Salem St., Out of the Kiln, is an American Crafts Gallery, which means that the store sells wares from 100 artists from around the country.

There's blown glass, jewelry, metalwork — and pottery created by Bob himself. On a recent day you could find Bob in a corner "throwing clay," or in the process of molding a hunk of clay into a vase.

Bob finds the work peaceful, and the couple finds downtown Apex — where they've been for the last five years — a great business environment.

"We all play nice in the sand box," Beverly said, meaning the downtown business owners watch out for each other and promote each others' success.

The mix of businesses downtown help as well. Along Salem Street, downtown's main drag, there's a selection of restaurants, galleries and even a gym. The variety keeps the crowds coming downtown.

Of course business owners Elaine and Jim Mills usually go to their customers.

The couple have sold and delivered flowers from downtown for the past 24 years, moving just last summer to their new location at 211 S. Salem St.

"At that time it was a major cultural shock," Elaine said recently from the interior of their Basket Tree Florist shop. She was talking about when the couple first moved to Apex from New York City in the 1980s. Not that she was entirely a stranger to small-town culture. Elaine is a native of Harnett County who moved to New York by herself at the age of 18 for an adventure.

It was there that she met Jim, a Texan who had been in the flower business since his childhood.

"I like the colors, the designs," she said of why she loves flower arrangements, while gazing at a large orchid display on the counter. She also loves being her own boss. "You are not limited by somebody else's vision," she said.

Colors of a different kind line the walls of a shop across town. Tucked away in an old farmhouse right before the N.C. 64 interchange, Plain and Simple is a three-year-old quilt shop that sales mainly fabrics and supplies, and a couple of quilts.

Most of the people who work there are quilters themselves. "I like the process. It's very social," said Janet Richards, a shop employee. She said locals and out-of-towners stop by the shop.

One local was in the shop on a recent weekday. Cary mother of three Maureen Phillips was buying fabric and said, "This is my happy place." She said that quilting gives her peace in her hectic life.

But these are just three of the stores and stories in downtown Apex. There are so many more. So take a drive to the Peak City and check them out yourself.