Pedestrians make their way along Maine Street in downtown Brunswick this morning. Citing the town’s cultural attractions, Smithsonian Magazine named Brunswick one of America’s 20 “best small towns” in its May 2012 edition. (Darren Fishell / The Times Record)
Call Peterson biased, but writer Aviva Shen’s listing in Smithsonian is pretty clear.
“The Maine seacoast has attracted and inspired artists for hundreds of years,” Shen wrote, “and they’ve left their mark.”
What follows is a list praising Brunswick’s arts organizations, including the Brunswick Outdoor Arts Festival, Maine State Music Theatre, the Bowdoin College Art Museum, The Theater Project and film and art offerings at Frontier’s theater and gallery.
“The arts are a huge draw and I think people from away recognize that,” Peterson said to The Times Record this morning. “There’s lots of talk in economic development about ‘placemaking,’ and I think that’s what the arts does.”
In an email to The Times Record, Stephanie Slocum, executive director of the Brunswick Downtown Association, also noted the role of Brunswick’s cultural assets in the listing.
“It is a great recognition from another national publication that Brunswick is not only an outstanding place to live but also to experience an exceptional variety of cultural assets,” Slocum wrote.
Slocum said the listing comes in a series of positive press for the town — including articles in the Boston Globe and Maine Magazine.
In June, Slocum said, Down East magazine will feature a Brunswick-specific supplement to introduce that magazine’s readers to the downtown’s offerings.
For people retiring from larger cities where cultural destinations are around the corner, Peterson said, Brunswick has the ability to surprise even New Yorkers with its arts offerings.
“I know a lot of people who when choosing a place to retire chose Brunswick because they had access to (the arts),” Peterson said. “Those who left the New York area chose Brunswick because they could continue to go to the theater and have those things close to where they are living and working.”
Slocum said the positive press has “re-emphasized the multitude of Brunswick’s assets” and increased tourism to the town and interest in Brunswick as a place to settle.
Among the other 20 towns on the list, which appears in the magazine’s May 2012 edition, are Great Barrington, Mass., which took the top spot. The only other honored town in New England is Brattleboro, Vt.
News of the accolade continued to spread late Tuesday and this morning.
Bowdoin College senior Salma Berrada said this morning that Facebook was abuzz with comments among her friends about the news.
It’s really great and we deserve it,” Berrada said.
Joining another student at Frosty’s Donuts for coffee this morning, Berrada said having a nice small town adjacent to the college campus makes students’ connection to the community stronger.
“It’s easier to integrate into a smaller community than if we lived in New York or a bigger city,” Berrada said. “That’s why I like our connection to Brunswick.”
Despite news buzzing around social media and the Web, Frosty’s co-owner Nels Omdal said he hadn’t yet heard of the announcement.
Making doughnuts, he said, has kept him busy.
To read Brunswick’s entry at Smithsonian Magazine, visit http://goo.gl/kX62c.
dfishell@timesrecord.com
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