Winner
of American Dream Town Award Competition 2006 confirmed!
American
Dream Town of the Year 2006 is Abingdon, Virginia
– "Arts of Historic Proportions" founded
in 1778, has long been a center for the cultural arts.
With buildings dating back to the 18th century, Abingdon
features a twenty block historic district that is on the
National Register of Historic Places. The town received
most votes overall in the national, annual competition.
Abingdon VA will be featured on the American Dream Show
on Hamptons TV - WVVH TV summer 2006. That is a half hour
talk show all about Abingdon.
America
has voted for the NEW American Dream Town - Abingdon,
Virginia has won the prestigious annual American Dream
Town 2006 competition by People’s Vote with most
votes overall!
Abingdon, VA received 20,452 votes, followed by Locust
Grove, OK with 5,589 votes and Celebration, FL with 4,850
votes.
One
Hundred Fifty towns national were up for vote, three in
each state. And America voted! Almost 50,000 votes came
in over a time frame of six weeks. Abingdon VA was nominated
by Bruce Northam, a national Geographic Travel writer
and 'off the beaten path’ advisory board member.
Abingdon, VA founded in 1778 has long been a center for
the cultural arts. With buildings dating back to the 18th
century, Abingdon features a twenty block historic district
that is on the National Register of Historic Places, the
town received most votes overall in the national competition.
http://www.americandreamtown.com/index.asp
“It
is interesting how the competition affected our residents,
kin, friends and neighbors. Being a small town, people
talk, and word spreads quickly throughout. I was quite
the advocate recommending to the audiences in my theaters
here to go to the ADT website and vote. And clearly many
did. I noticed in your discussion of what a dream town
should be, that an nteractive website was on the list.
Following our victory, I discussed our existing website
with the town's Mayor and Town Manager, and they have
enthusiastically agreed with me that our town's website
needs to be updated to be far more visually appealing,
and they have asked if I will discuss this with potential
website designers. I find it fascinating that already
the competition you sponsored is going to lead to positive
change in our town. I'm sure that more such changes will
take place over the coming months as others make suggestions
for improvement of many natures. So again I must thank
you and your organization, this time for helping stimulate
progress in our community.” wrote Steve Weston CEO,
21st Century Cinemas.
Past
American Dream Town award winners are:
American Dream
Town 2005
Braselton, Georgia
American Dream
Town 2004
Glen Rose, Texas
American Dream
Town 2003
Montauk, L.I. New York
Guidelines
for Nominations
• Population – A town is
a town, not a city. Though there is no hard line between
a town and city, we think towns are smaller and less urban
and/or metropolitan. If you need a number, try about 5,000,
but that doesn’t mean that if you have a wonderful
town much larger it shouldn’t be nominated. But
we are not looking for New York or Baltimore, or even
Riverside, CA or Denton, TX. It’s small towns that
will get the nod, not the large ones.
•
Pretty – This is about as subjective
as you can get. Tell us why you like your town, what is
beautiful about it. Is it the architecture, the vistas,
the countryside, trees, landscape, etc. Let us know your
view of your American Dream Town.
•
Pristine – Take into account such
things as cleanliness, maintenance of the built environment,
preservation of historic and natural features, things
that make your town different and original.
•
Patriotic – More than just flying
a lot of flags. Why is your town a patriotic town? How
are you preserving the American Dreams of your forbearers?
Do you have a battleground, graveyard, or historic building
that reflects on them? How about the immigrant experience
in your town? Everyplace has a history, and American Dream
Towns have a patriotic history. If you are nominating
a new town, consider that a monument or a small museum
is a good start.
•
Website – We really want a website,
this is an interactive type of activity. We are not looking
for the best website, we are looking for a fine town.
•
Dues or Fees? – The are NO dues or fees
for any of the town that are nominated or the people that
are nominating their dream towns. The annual, national
competition is sponsored by Seven Stars & Stripes
Awards Inc. http://www.sevenstarsandstripes.com
- Gurney's Inn Resort and Spa http://www.GurneysInn.com
and others - The American Dream Town board submits nominations,
too. http://www.americandreamtown.com/about.htm?frame=5
•
Nominations will be screened –
The American Dream Town board http://www.americandreamtown.com/about.htm?frame=5
reserves the right to screen all nominations that they
meet with the criteria of pretty, pristine, and patriotic.
Those who do not meet the minimum in the subjective mind
of the American Dream Town mission will be rejected. All
decisions are final.
•
If there are too many nominations – This is a first
come, first served program.
http://www.americandreamtown.com/index.asp
Ingrid
Lemme
631.668.4719
President
American Dream Town Competition
http://www.americandreamtown.com/
Host American Dream Show
http://www.americandreamshow.com/
Chairperson Seven Stars And Stripes
http://www.sevenstarsandstripes.com/index.asp
Paul
Sladkus and Good News & Milestone Broadcast Corporation's
Background
Note: American Dream Town interviews can be heard on www.goodnewsbroadcast.com
Braselton chosen as 'American Dream Town' in contest
By Linda Marie Jones for The Times
Braselton,
once famous for little more than the fact that it was
owned, if only partially, by movie star Kim Basinger,
has become a progressive, burgeoning little town, one
in which residents are both Internet savvy and cohesive
enough to win the American Dream Town contest for 2005.
Read
more
Dream Town Fever Grips Greenport
By Nancy Swett
The
mayor got it, the president of the Greenport Merchants
Association got it, the bank branch manager got it, and
it’s spreading fast.
It’s a virtual contagion caused by the American
Dream Town contest. Last week, a distinguished advisory
board announced that it named Greenport and two other
New York towns for the honor of making the short list.
Now it’s up to the voters all over the world to
decide the winners. Read
more
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"The
American Dream
Town
idea has broad and wonderful implications for the
small towns of this nation. The Mayors and Supervisors
of these towns, competing for this honor, will proudly
spruce up their towns, improve them and provide
amenities for their communities that they might
otherwise have created. This will help everyone.
Nothing but good will comes of this."
Dan Rattiner, Publisher Dans Papers
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