Where to vote: http://tinyurl.com/ptiscool
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PORT TOWNSEND — In what has been obvious to many residents for some time, Port Townsend is in the running to be honored as the coolest small town in America as part of a contest sponsored by Budget Travel magazine.
“We are hoping we can get people to vote for us online,” said Port Townsend marketing director Christina Pivarnik, who will make a steady effort to drum up votes prior to the Feb. 11 deadline.
The winners will be featured in the September 2011 issue, which is appropriate because that month — with the Wooden Boat Festival, the Port Townsend Film Festival and early October’s Kinetic Skulpture races — is just about the coolest time to be in Port Townsend.
The winners of this contest won’t get any cash — only bragging rights that translate into promotional currency.
The magazine called for nominations of towns with populations of 10,000 or less that have unique cultural identities.
Eighty towns were nominated, and Port Townsend — described by one resident as having “a critical mass of crazy people” — made the cut for the top 20.
It is the only town in the running in Washington state and — aside from Astoria, Ore. — the only Northwest contestant.
By Saturday evening, Port Townsend was in ninth place with 318 votes — up from Friday evening’s 10th place with 279 votes one day after the local announcement of the contest.
Lewisburg, W.Va., was in the lead Saturday night with 5,504 votes and Astoria, in fifth place, had polled 869.
Ahead of Port Townsend were, beginning with second place, La Pointe, Wis.; Alpine, Texas; Ripon, Wis.; Astoria; Wiscasset, Maine; Eureka Springs. Ark.; and Cedar Key, Fla.
But the game has hardly started, and Pivarnik intends to devote much of her time to getting out the vote, beginning with social media support and growing into other marketing efforts.
She is lobbying people to sign up on the site and encouraging them to keep voting, as the site allows an individual to vote every five hours.
There is the argument that sitting at a computer in order to punch a button 4.8 times a day makes someone uncool.
There’s also the question of whether Port Townsend residents really want the rest of the world to know how ultimately groovy their home town really is.
The wrong kind of attention can ruin a town, as postulated by the Eagles on their 1976 “Hotel California” album: “You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.”
But Pivarnik doesn’t see a downside.
“We want people to come here,” she said.
“None of the people I’ve talked to see anything bad about this.”
Port Townsend is familiar with Internet elections, as the schooner Adventuress won first place in a contest this summer sponsored by American Express, earning $125,000 in money that will be used for restoration.
The magazine defines “the coolest small town” as a “place on the upswing, a place that’s beginning to draw attention — and new residents — because of the quality of life, arts and restaurant scene, or proximity to nature. And cool doesn’t mean quaint. We want towns with an edge . . .SDRq
According to Wikipedia, which some consider a cool place to get information, the word “cool” represents a sliding aesthetic scale.
“One of the essential characteristics of cool is its mutability,” Wikipedia says. “What is considered cool changes over time and varies among cultures and generations.”
Put another way, if you have to ask what “cool” is, you really have no clue.
On Friday, Port Townsend residents who heard news of the nomination knew how cool they were, and why.
“This town has a big heart,” Jan Tobin said.
“It is the only place you can go where people hug each other, and really mean it.”
“Everyone here is involved in doing something creative,” Rosalind Russell said.
Steve Schremp attributes Port Townsend’s birth of cool to a 1976 “clerical error” that assigned Fort Worden to the department of the arts rather than the national parks.
“We’ve had 34 years of events where world class musicians come to visit and one in 100 decide to make it their home,” he said.
“As a result we have developed a critical mass of crazy people.”
Many residents feel Port Townsend’s cool factor originates from its openmindedness and flexibilty.
“If you have an idea, no one will shut it down here, no matter how crazy it seems,” said Krystal Jackson.
Even if the town wins the contest, the town will survive any resulting population boost.
“I’ve seen a lot of people come and go here,” Maggie Wegener said.
“The town can only hold so many people.”
To vote in the contest go to http://tinyurl.com/ptiscool.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
