With its mix of quaint, walkable art galleries, clothing stores, craft co-ops, Tuckasegee river access and Great Smoky Mountains Railway depot, the tiny village of Dillsboro is a formidable force in the battle for tourist dollars. However, many Dillsboro merchants say they’re missing out on a piece of the market — beer and wine sales.

“Based on the depressed economy it would be in the best interest of Dillsboro basically to have beer and wine to keep up with other towns,” said JoeFrank McKee, owner of Treehouse Pottery.

Dillsboro has become an island surrounded by competing alcohol sales on all sides. Just outside town limits gas stations sell six-packs and Sylva restaurants offer commercial beers, microbrews and wines.

“I’ve sent four couples to Sylva that wanted a beer with dinner just this week,” McKee said last Thursday.

At the prompting of the local business community, Dillsboro town leaders moved to stop this outward flow of dollars. In a letter to Rep. Phil Haire (D-Sylva), they requested in April that he introduce a bill allowing the town to vote on beer and wine sales.

The bill is not a stand alone written specifically for the town, but an amendment to existing alcohol laws. The amendment would allow “any city or town that is the passenger terminus of a rail line that carries at least 60,000 passengers annually” to hold a vote for on-premise beer and wine sales. It is necessary since the state General Assembly enacted a law in 2000 prohibiting towns with populations of less than 500 — the 2000 Census pegged Dillsboro’s population at 205 — from calling a beer and wine election.

The amendment passed the House earlier this month 79 to 39. The bill has now been referred to the Senate’s Committee on Commerce.

Back in 1998 Dillsboro residents voted against beer and wine sales. Of the town’s 150 registered voters, 55 percent turned out for the election voting down beer — or malt beverages, as they are officially called — 47 to 35. Wine lost out 50 to 32, according to Board of Elections records.

Part of the vote against beer and wine sales may have been motivated by inclusion of off-premise sales that would have allowed sales in package and convenience stores.

But the issue continues to prove divisive, as some have argued that the revenue generated by alcohol sales will be negligible and will only open the doors for an unsavory element to blight the town’s picturesque landscape. Dillsboro restaurants already allow brown bagging, so what more do they need, opponents have asked.

However, brown bagging allows for uncontrolled imbibing — of beer, wine and liquor. Restaurants are not held responsible for beverages customers bring in with them, said Town Manager Herb Nolan. On-premise sales mean that there’s someone keeping track of how much someone’s had, and who’s responsible for driving home.

Plus, brown bagging may carry a certain stigma, said John Miele, owner of The Golden Carp. Affluent visitors are used to a certain level of services that do not include bringing along their own beverages.

“They’re not the type of people who will buy liquor and carry it in a brown bag like a derelict,” Miele said.

Should the proposed amendment to the state’s alcohol laws pass the Senate, merchants seem optimistic about beer and wine sales being in the town’s future — though the vote may again be close, as the town’s voting roster still stands at 150 and only slightly more than 40 signatures were collected on a petition circulated by town merchants in support of beer and wine sales.

“I know that people are afraid of change, but change has to happen,” said Stacey Hepp, owner of the Dillsboro Chocolate Factory and president of the Dillsboro Merchants’ Association. “You can’t keep up unless you’re trying to keep up.”

If a vote is approved, it will be on the November ballot along with town council elections.