Inside Organpi Farms’ soon-to-be-opened Goddess Ayurvedic Hookah Bar, surrounded by ornate hookahs and subtle décor, are antique couches and furnishings pulled straight from the estate of a historic Selma home.

“We really wanted to incorporate some history,” said Dr. Portia Fulford, owner of both the new hookah bar and its agricultural affiliate.

Just beyond the bar is a door that leads to a deck, which will be operational in the coming weeks, that overlooks the Alabama River.

“At night time, when this is lit up, oh my God, it’s beautiful,” said Fulford. “The best of Selma comes to sit out here and talk.”

The new hookah bar will open its doors Friday at 4 p.m., offering a full bar and some of Organpi Farms’ hallmark dishes, with grand opening festivities extending into Saturday.

Beyond that, the new night spot on Water Avenue will be open Wednesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. until they cut out the lights.

For her part, Fulford envisions her business as more than a local night spot and sees the city it calls home as more than a historic town on the banks of the river.

“I think we have an absolute gold mine here,” said Fulford. “My goal is to see this like a little Manhattan.”

The cigar bar that once was housed where the new hookah bar sits closed a few months ago while Fulford tended to her other ambition, which includes traveling the world to work with international partners on issues of agricultural business.

“I felt like our environment was becoming a little too male,” Fulford said. “So, we wanted something sexier on the tables and hookahs are much sexier than a cigar.”

While patrons will still be welcomed to enjoy a cigar in the bar, Fulford has spared no expense in acquiring intricately-crafted hookahs, the last of which will be delivered in the coming days.

Fulford sees the new establishment, as well as the largest woman-owned agriculture business in Alabama and the Airbnb on Tremont Avenue, both of which she also owns and manages, as part of a wider redevelopment and reinvestment in Selma.

“This area has to be developed from the inside, not begging from the outside,” Fulford said. “This city needs money and, when you need money, you have to do what the rest of the world is doing to get it.”

Fulford is inspired by the work being done by ArtsRevive to invest in the downtown Arts District and by the reemergence of the St. James Hotel.

“This area is not going to look like this in 10 to 15 years,” Fulford said.

Part of Fulford’s vision for making Selma’s downtown a thriving hub of social and cultural activity in the Black Belt requires distancing businesses from the history of horrors most often attributed to Selma.

Though her father marched in 1965, Fulford believes Selma is “way beyond that phase now” and should establish a more positive face to show to the world.

Through her downtown bar, which will welcome tourists and international visitors here on business, and her bed and breakfast, that will provide those visitors with an inviting place to rest, Fulford hopes to create that idyllic city.

However, Fulford also believes agriculture has a role to play in creating a thriving Selma and the new hemp industry may be the model by which thousands can be employed.

“With so much agricultural land around us, there’s no reason anyone should be looking for a job,” Fulford said. “A product like hemp allows us to actively compete.”

With so much on the horizon, Fulford is focused for now on Friday, when the sound of conversations, laughter and music will again fill the walls of her business on Water Avenue and Selma’s finest will come to enjoy an all-natural meal and the fragrant aromas emanating from a dozen ornate hookahs.