It has a grand Irish Memorial at Penn's Landing and landmarks such as the Commodore Barry and Platt Memorial Bridges, named after Irish-born heroes of the American Revolution and Civil War.

But William James, the bagpipe-playing mayor of Gloucester City, says his town plans an attraction that will turn Philly emerald with envy: a whole Irish-themed village on the waterfront, a Dublin on the Delaware.

"And that's no blarney," said James, who - like 42 percent of his 11,500 or so constituents - is of Irish ancestry.

Officials of the Camden County town hope to transform 23 city-owned properties along a 12-block stretch of King Street into a permanently and exuberantly Irish shopping district.

The village would house restaurants, pubs, bakeries, gift shops and other retailers in buildings with 19th-century-style facades. It would also offer Celtic entertainment and festivals with poetry readings and films, fiddlers and harpists. Plans call for docking a schooner at a nearby pier.

At least two developers are interested in the potential tourist attraction, and others are expected to make bids, authorities said. Work could begin this year, they said, and existing businesses are being encouraged to participate through renovations in keeping with the Irish theme.

"The people here are ready for this," James said. "It's already part of who they are."

Gloucesterites revel in the local Irish traditions and see a reconnection with their roots as a way to bring back the town. Scores of residents have decorated their houses with green St. Patrick's Day lights, shamrocks, and Irish flags.

"St. Patrick's Day is everybody's favorite day of the year around here," said James, who was formerly deputy chief of police. "My own grandparents came from Waterford and Wexford, Ireland. Everybody claims Irish ancestors, even those who don't have them."

The city holds a rocking Shamrock Festival each September - the halfway point to the next St. Patrick's Day. And it approved spending $50,000 for its first official St. Patrick's Day parade and fireworks display next year.

But Gloucester City needed a commercial center for public activities and looked beyond its established shopping district on Broadway. On the King Street corridor, parallel to the river, about a half-dozen retail establishments and several offices are scattered among empty lots and vacant storefronts.

"The area there has been stagnant for a while," James said. "We brought in a consultant firm and set up advisory committees that brought new energy to the process" of remaking the waterfront.

Joseph Getz and Mark Lohbauer, both of the JGSC Group of Pennsauken, remember the day in the fall when the idea for an Irish village hit them. The consultants were meeting with officials to discuss the town's needs.

"We kept hearing talk about Irish groups and events, Irish names and Irish pubs," Getz said.

That was when Lohbauer suggested that Gloucester City go green by re-creating a piece of the Emerald Isle.

"Why not cluster retailers and create a festival atmosphere?" he asked. "We could have people in wool cable sweaters, live performances of the fiddle and harp, and horse-drawn carts."

Other cities have their Chinatowns and Little Italys. In Gloucester City, Lohbauer said, "this is for real."

Irish Quakers first arrived at the site in the 1680s and were followed by hundreds of sons of Erin during the Irish potato famine in the 1840s, said Dave Munn, chairman of the Gloucester City Historic Preservation Commission. Gloucester City was industrializing then and offered the arrivals jobs in a cotton mill.

The city, next to the Walt Whitman Bridge, was once busy with commercial shipping, and its paper mill and dye industries employed 10,000. But when the industries shut down in the 1970s, stores closed, houses were left vacant, and buildings deteriorated.

Gloucester City has tried to capitalize on its waterfront, historic character and proximity to Philadelphia to lure new residents. In the last decade, dozens of 19th-century storefronts and houses have been restored, Victorian-style lampposts installed, and decorative sidewalks added. A new marina, boat landing and fishing pier - all part of Proprietor's Park - were dedicated in 2002, and some businesses opened.

Duffy's Delicious Candies, on Broadway, has a longer history. Irish immigrant Charles Duffy started the shop more than 60 years ago. Owner Michael Hall said he wouldn't move to King Street, but might open a satellite store there.

"Irish is big-time here. There are a lot of Michaels and Patricks," Hall said. "So if you have an [Irish] attraction and we can get some business out of it, how does that hurt?"

Lohbauer and Getz are recruiting retailers for the King Street corridor, in a state-designated urban enterprise zone, where the 3.5 percent sales tax is half the normal rate.

The project would be made financially possible through private investment, state and federal grants, and other incentives, including city tax abatements, officials said. More than one developer may be chosen, allowing simultaneous work at several sites, they said.

Construction would be two- and three-story mixed-use buildings, with retail on the ground floor and residences above. On a large pier extending from King Street, a schooner and a restaurant could be placed near 29 luxury townhouses to be built in a separate project, said Bob Bevan, the city's community-relations specialist and a former mayor.

Glenn and Maria Hastings, who own the King Street Espresso Bar, said they would welcome any increased foot traffic that the Irish-themed village might bring.

"I'm definitely for it," Glenn Hastings said. "You'll have retailers crawling out of the woodwork" to locate here.

"Anything we can do here will be better than nothing," said Ken Rice, owner of Oh! Hara's pub in a 100-year-old building next door. "We'll have to hang out some shamrocks and four-leaf clovers for luck."