But the world’s most powerful leaders are unlikely to get much of an opportunity to appreciate these efforts. The site for the event, the plush Lough Erne Resort in County Fermanagh, lies three miles outside Enniskillen. The single approach road is now closed, the imposing security fencing is in place, and a five-mile stretch of lake the hotel overlooks will soon be patrolled by boats, surveillance drones and navy divers.

Despite the heavy security, this town’s 14,000 residents seem relaxed and eager for the international spotlight. Lodgings and restaurants are fully booked, and other businesses are likely to benefit from the anticipated onslaught of security personnel and media workers. The prospect of up to 20,000 protesters has not darkened the local mood, either.

“I don’t believe there will be very many protesters here at all or any trouble,” said a hotelier, Terry McCartney. “This place has few buses, no trains and on the whole is pretty inaccessible.”

But more international attention may be just what Enniskillen needs. Even after 15 years of relative calm that began with the Good Friday peace agreement, the memory of the Northern Ireland conflict, known as the Troubles, continues to deter tourists. For the neighboring Republic of Ireland, tourism has become an economic lifeblood, so business people here view the summit meeting as an opportunity to recover some of the ground lost to three decades of violence.

Mr. McCartney said he also hoped that a successful event would complete the reinvention of a town so closely identified with the conflict, largely because of an Irish Republican Army bombing here in 1987 that killed 11 people and wounded at least 61. Shortly after that attack, in a rare admission, the I.R.A. described it as “a monumental error.”

“Maybe people have heard about Enniskillen for all the wrong reasons, and after the G-8 they might take a look at just what we have to offer here,” Mr. McCartney said. “If anything, the bombing brought everyone in this town closer together.”

Certainly, besides some ragged British Union flags dangling from lampposts on one of the few main streets, the town has none of the divisive symbols found in other areas of Northern Ireland, like the so-called peace walls erected to separate Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods, the political murals that often glorify paramilitary groups or the footpaths painted in sectarian colors.

During the Troubles, Fermanagh did not gain the notoriety of similar counties to the east, like Tyrone and Armagh, which were hotbeds of I.R.A. activity.

But residents realize that it will be a difficult balancing act to present the region in its best light while ensuring the levels of security expected at such events.

Aside from scheduled protests in Enniskillen and Belfast, the task of the security forces has been further complicated by the activities of dissident Irish Republican militants opposed to the continuing peace process who are expected to use the event to highlight their armed campaign for a united Ireland.

One such splinter group claimed that a car bomb found 20 miles from Enniskillen in March was destined for the Group of 8 meeting site, and a senior police chief, Alistair Finlay, recently warned of the possibility of attacks during the summit meeting, though not in the immediate vicinity.

“I’ve got no reason to say that dissidents won’t do something during that period of time,” he said. “This is the normal backdrop. This has been the backdrop, the sad reality of Northern Ireland, over quite a period of time. People shouldn’t be surprised if there are incidents.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/world/europe/northern-ireland-town-freshens-up-before-group-of-8-meeting.html?partner=rss&emc=rss