IT’S OFFICIAL: Berlin Is ‘America’s Coolest Small Town’ For 2014
The mayors of the top two finishers in “Budget Travel’s America’s Coolest Small Town Contest” exchanged emails this morning with the online poll officially closing last night with Berlin gaining a commanding win. Here’s the text of the email exchange as well as the final results:
Village of Cazenovia, N.Y. Mayor Kurt Wheeler:
To Mayor Williams and the citizens of Berlin,
Congratulations to everyone in your community on your victory in the Budget Travel "America's Coolest Small Town" contest! As we noted in our telephone conversation last week - win, lose or draw, the contest has been a lot of fun and a great source of civic pride for both towns.
On behalf of everyone here in Cazenovia, I'd like to extend our heartfelt best wishes to you and everyone in Berlin. I look forward to visiting you and seeing your beautiful community first-hand in the next few months. I'm pleased to report that not only were our friends at Empire Farmstead Brewery, which will open in the Village of Cazenovia this year, delighted to participate but the Henneberg Brewing Company, which is operating in the Town of Cazenovia, also contacted me to join the challenge. I'll be pleased to bring you samples from both of our local craft brewers! I'll reach out to the other two elements of our local "beverage trail" (The Harvest Moon Cidery at Critz Farms and the Owera Vineyard) and perhaps we can end up
having a real celebration!
I look forward to drinking a toast to a bright future for both of our "cool small towns.
Congratulations again on Berlin's victory -
Best wishes,
Kurt
Berlin Mayor Gee Williams:
To Mayor Wheeler and the citizens of Cazenovia, N.Y.,
Thank you for your very gracious message of congratulations. It has been a truly uplifting experience that we both have been able to share watching our communities, and many friends from beyond our borders, express their pride and support through the “America’s Coolest Small Town” contest. I believe we also are both very grateful to have the honor and privilege of serving our very special communities.
I trust that through this friendly competition, folks throughout our nation are reminded each year that there are so many “cool towns” in America that are generous, caring and in the best sense of the word, properly proud of their hometowns.
I am looking forward to visiting the Village of Cazenovia, NY, in the near future, but to be very candid, I am pretty certain it will be during one of the warm weather months of the year. Everything we have learned about your community sounds like it is a delightful and welcoming place to live or visit.
I also am looking forward to taking you up on your offer to share a taste or two of your local craft brews during your visit to Berlin. In the meantime, please extend a sincere hand of friendship to the citizens of Cazenovia from your newly found friends in Maryland.
Best wishes and take care.
Gee
9 comments:
Congrats,hoorah and everything else to my favorite town!
Now if you could just get the commenters on here to act a civilly with each other.
Good news for Berlin. The town has come a long way in recent years. A problem I do see coming however, is a parking problem. What if anything is being done about it?
here comes your tax increases. Now that they are the coolest there is nowhere else to go but up!
Congrats to Berlin.
What an honor!
Salisbury would never receive that honor. What does it have to offer to people. Absolutely nothing unless you say it is one of the deadliest cities in the state.
Salisbury take notes:
Just 10 - maybe 15 years ago - Berlin was a hotspot for drugs (primarily crack), and had a less-than-impressive downtown shopping area and Main Street. Definitely NOT a place anyone would go out of their way to visit.
Somewhere along the line the citizens of Berlin decided to take back the town, and look at the result.
Today it's a must-see for knowledgeable visitors to the shore. Shops, restaurants, activities, street fairs, and an atmosphere that welcomes visitors.
Salisbury could do it. Just needs leadership.
They 'buryed the competition! Congrats Berlin!
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