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OK. So Flag Day and the Fourth of July are long gone. But still one couple in Palatka's Southside Historic District seemingly hold on to summer's patriotic holidays as the Dog Days take a scorching grip. "It's really burgundy, not red," said Dannie Buckley of their patriotic-looking Victorian house that carries a red, err, burgundy, white and blue motif. But driving by 400 Emmett Street, the 1887 house really does look red, white and blue, she admits.

She and her retired stockbroker husband Dan bought the house three years ago. "This is something we had always wanted to try," he says. They moved here from New Port Richey on Florida's West Coast. They've spent nearly every day since working on the house -- renovating and restoring it one room at a time.

"It's like a 30-year time warp coming here," Dannie says. It's meant as a compliment.

"We can go to St. Augustine and back in the time it took us to go to the grocery store in New Port Richey, she says. They don't miss the traffic and the crowds at all. "I wanted to live around southern people for a while," he says noting the slower pace of Palatka. The state=s Gulf coast is populated with transplanted northerners.

The Buckley's 11-room residence is known as the Blanchard House. Frank Blanchard owned it until 1921 and had operated a boarding house for many years. Later it was the Merryday home until the 1960s.

The Buckleys liked Palatka, but they liked the prices here the most -- and that enticed them. For people dreaming to restore historic homes, Palatka has more of them at more affordable prices than the tourist-oriented places like St. Augustine or Central Florida.

Mayor Tim Smith says the old homes are attracting a new kind of resident -- young professionals and retired professionals who share a dream of owning a piece of history.

The new residents in the Southside and Northside Historic Districts also are helping bring a new pride to the city, Smith says. AWhat it does is bring in a new appreciation that we as longtime residents fail to realize," says Smith, himself a Southside Historic District resident.

City Commissioner Ted MacGibbon says the rebirth of the old neighborhood is fascinating to watch. MacGibbon, who also lives in a historic Emmett Street house, says the renaissance is driven by young people and by out-of-towners. 'There's a guy from Boca Raton who has just bought 4 houses here -- one next to me,@ MacGibbon says. AThe young people here have taken hold of the revitalization and they are really enthusiastic.@

Debbie Banks says the city=s downtown neighborhoods are poised for a boom.

AI really think that in the next year of so our property values are going to escalate in these historic districts,@ Banks says.

AWe=re getting people buying them and the real curious part in talking with a lot of these people is that they are amazed at how low prices are for real estate here, A says Banks.

Bland Holland, owner of the Azalea House Bed and Breakfast in the Northside Historic District, says much of his business comes from people visiting and looking to buy in the area.

AIt=s a mixture of people..middle-aged professionals who are coming basically to be in a quiet tranquil atmosphere trying to get away from the St. Augustines and other tourist areas and from the hype and commercialism,@ says Holland. AI=m shocked at the number of people from Tampa and St. Petersburg who are shopping, hoping to buy here.@