6:12 AM, Oct. 29, 2011 | 13 Comments
Written by
Courtney Jordan
Burlington was recently named one of the nation's best downtowns by Forbes Magazine, making it the city's seventh accolade of 2011.
Recognized for its "lively" and "charming" nature, Church Street was also noted in Livability.com's Top 10 downtowns earlier this month, which helped influence Forbes' list.
Forbes cited Church Street's variety of culture and commerce and the array of street performers as being a large part of the ranking.
Executive Director of Church Street Marketplace Ron Redmond says that it's the people of the city who contribute to its frequent recognition.
"It's the nature of Vermonters to get along with each other," Redmond said. "There is a civility that I haven't experienced in other communities."
America's Best Downtowns were selected based on a variety of criteria including attractiveness, accessibility and diversity of cultural options and offerings, something that Redmond says are abundant in Burlington.
"People here are really engaged," he said. "The number of events and activities downtown is almost exhausting. If you were to compare to other, even larger, cities, the number of events would pale in comparison to Burlington each year."
Burlington makes no efforts at marketing itself for these types of awards, but the magnitude of activity within the city undoubtedly attracts people from all over, Redmond said.
"We don't have a dedicated effort toward winning awards, we're too busy," he said.
Redmond says that Burlington's culture of continuous activity is due to the nature of the people who live here.
"You've got to be a certain kind of person to live here," he said. "People here are committed to being their best selves and establishing a quality of life that serves that."
Burlington's downtown was also commended for its bike and walk-friendly streets as well as being home to one of the country's "best microbreweries," The Magic Hat Brewing Co. The smallest on the list in terms of population at 42,417, Burlington's acclaim was among cities from Chicago, Ill., to Santa Monica, Calif.
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