Things could be changing soon at Main Street Market Cafe. $100,000 would do that.

Main Street Market Cafe is in a national competition to win one of 20, $100,000 grants sponsored by Chase Bank, a part of their Mission Main Street Grants program.

Co-owner Sally Bullard said it’s a main street revival kind of grant.

“We would really, really like to become the first farm-to-table restaurant in Vicksburg,” she said of what she would most like to do with the grant.

Bullard said the restaurant, a mom-and-pop sort of place, supports the local farmers’ market, and puts and emphasis on fresh, clean food.

“We like to say simply Southern, creatively Cajun,” she said. “We don’t even own fryers in our restaurant.”

The restaurant, which began nine years ago, gave Bullard and her husband Chris Fink a chance to leave the world of corporate restaurants.

“As a kid growing up in Vicksburg, this is what mom-and-pop restaurants used to be, where it’s really mom and pop,” she said. “My kids work here.”

Bullard said her mother, Betty Bullard, owns the building, and it was Betty who originally started the business as a deli/market with Fink.

“When I came in, I started expanding the menu,” Sally Bullard said. “We shop so we can keep our price point at $10.”

Bullard said the menu changes regularly, and everything is homemade.

“What I like about the restaurant is that everybody who comes in is touched by either Chris or I,” she said. “I take the orders, Chris makes the food, and so it’s a labor of love.”

Bullard said she and her husband try to support the historic district of old downtown Vicksburg.

“For me it’s important in this part of the community to be involved in the historic part of the community,” she said.

In addition to supporting the local farmers’ market, Main Street Market Cafe also works with local schools and the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation.

In addition to serving more farm-fresh foods and supporting local businesses, Main Street Market Cafe would become more handicap accessible if awarded the grant, Bullard said.

Bullard said it would make access easier for several of her older, regular customers who come three or four times a week.

“We also have some products we would like to put into production,” she said. “We do our homemade ginger dressing, and we’ve got a couple of desserts.”

With the grant, Bullard said that’s something that could become a reality.

“We’re in this for the long haul, neither of us are going anywhere, but $100,000 would really make a difference, as it would in any small business,” she said.

To be considered for the grant, Main Street Market Cafe needs votes.

“Before you can even win, you have to have 250 votes by voting on your Facebook account to even be considered for the grant,” she said.

Bullard said her restaurant might be one of the only businesses in Mississippi competing for the grant.

To vote for Main Street Market Cafe, visit www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/vote/businesses.