Artist Jo Colino took a year off from working after she sold a card shop in a Stratford shopping center. Then an artist friend told her about the restored Mill Race Village here.

On May 1, she will become the 13th tenant in the village, a district of quaint new shops downtown and along the banks of the Rancocas Creek. The privately developed district is the result of a partnership between arts and business.

"I visited the village and just fell in love with it. There was just something magical going on here," said Colino, a Rutgers University fine arts graduate from Cherry Hill. She will become the latest artist-in-residence when she opens her Spirit of Christmas shop at 14 White St.

The village is one of several ongoing efforts in the township to combine the arts and business communities. Others include the New Year's Eve celebration, which launches a monthlong exhibit of sculpture and other art.

The business-arts collaboration is one of the topics to be discussed at the Third Annual Business/Arts Summit on Friday at the South Jersey Performing Arts Center on the Camden Waterfront.

Mill Race was started by the Winzinger family of Hainesport, which operates a major demolition contracting company.

Family matriarch JoAnn Winzinger developed the idea for the project as a way to improve business at the family restaurant, Robin's Nest, because people were afraid to walk to the back parking lot in a depressed neighborhood, said project manager Heidi Winzinger, JoAnn's daughter.

The restaurant and its bakery, which opened in 1987 on Washington Street, was the first business in the village. Many of the buildings are historic.

The Winzingers also provided the financial backing to restore every building in the village, which now houses craft and art shops with names like Earth Angel, Silver Lining, Gwennovations and TLC Pottery. They sell items such as hand-painted furniture, hand-made teddy bears, art, jewelry, antiques, clothing and curiosities. Many have upstairs apartments the artists-in-residence rent from the Winzingers.

"We help artists and entrepreneurs by buying a building, fixing it up, creating an apartment upstairs and a shop downstairs," Heidi Winzinger said. "We offer them low rent and marketing assistance and free publicity through Robin's Nest and we advertise together."

Susan Thomas, owner of Silver Lining at 5 Church St., also ran a shop of the same name in Rancocas Woods, but closed it this year to concentrate on the one in Mill Race Village.

"My business here was getting a lot better so I decided this is where I wanted to be. The Winzinger commitment has been phenomenal and here I am able to live above my shop," she said.

Assisting in the revitalization projects are the Burlington County College Business and Career Development Center, the township, the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority, the Rancocas Valley Tourism Association and the Urban Enterprise Zone, a state program of tax exemptions and other benefit to encourage commercial development.

"I think things are going great," said Carolyn Rumowicz, executive director of the county college's center at 60 High St. "(Mount Holly has) a great UEZ director and the new township administrator is really committed to helping. A lot of things that were not happening before are just blossoming because for the first time everyone is working together."

She said the center, which will soon move into a former bank building at High and Washington streets, works with retail businesses and artists in town by providing training and other business assistance.

Gina Dunphy, executive director of the Urban Enterprise Zone here, said the UEZ is also planning a streetscape renewal program with the township. The UEZ has $3.9 million available for various projects.

"I think the art shops will continue to grow, but it will take time for people to bank on making Mount Holly an artsy place," Dunphy said. She noted that Mount Holly has an advantage over other downtown shopping areas because the state UEZ designation means shoppers pay only 3 percent sales tax instead of the normal 6 percent.

Regan Young, president of the architectural firm of Regan Young, England and Butera on High Street, coordinates First Night, a collaboration between the arts community and the local business association.

First Night began several years ago. People buy an entry button that allows them to hear music, see arts and attend a fireworks celebration.

"I think it's a real benefit to the town," Young said. " A lot of people are looking for interesting downtowns and think we're in the throes of a renaissance."