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Indy Index
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| Dream Town Fever Grips Greenport |
By Nancy Swett
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Dream Town Fever Grips
Greenport
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.
To win the contest,
Greenporters and their supporters around the world have to log
onto the American Dream Town contest site at
www.AmericanDreamTown.com and vote. The two New York
contenders are Cooperstown and Tarrytown. Greenport is in the
lead, but things can change quickly and dramatically. All
votes have to be in by December 31, 2003.
The prognosis is
still out as to whether Greenport is going to pull through and
become the 2004 American Dream Town for New York. At press
time, it was in the lead with almost 200 votes while
Cooperstown had just over 30 and Tarrytown had less than
10.
There are three nominations per state, with the highest
vote getter in each state earning the designation of American
Dream Town. One town will be the #1 overall national
winner.
Greenport would have a lot of catching up to do,
but there’s no reason why it couldn’t garner the most votes in
the entire country. As of press time, that honor looked like
it was going to Glen Rose, Texas with over 22,000 votes as of
press time and gaining thousands more daily. The itsy bitsy
town of Taylor, Nebraska is the next closest challenger for
the top slot with over 19,000 votes.
“I voted for
Greenport,” said Mayor David Kapell, whose mother tipped him
off to the contest.
Going For It
“We’re going for
it, we’re going to win it. This would be an excellent
credential for us,” said Greenport Merchants Association
President Jeff Colton of Coastal Candleworks on Front Street,
who heard about the contest from Yvonne Lieblein, president of
Lieblein Associates, a Greenport-based marketing company and
the Greenport business improvement district publicity
consultant.
“Greenport’s a strong contender because it’s a
real place with real people,” said Lieblein. “Greenport’s one
of the few places that has maintained its identity but moved
into modern times. We’ve kept our roots in fishing, farming,
and small retail shops. We’re not a cookie cutter town that
could be Anywhere U.S.A.”
The mayor of Glen Rose, Texas
appealed to the Texas governor for assistance and added a link
to the American Dream Town web site from the Glen Rose web
site. Interviewed about his campaign on the radio, he said he
would lose the contest over his dead body. For a small town of
2.7 square miles with a year round population of just over
2,100, it has managed to pull in more than 12 times its own
population in votes. The Texas town is famous for its dinosaur
tracks. Only about 200 people live in Taylor, Nebraska, the
national runner-up to date.
In its launch year, the 2004
contest is proving most interesting to Ingrid Lemme, the
director of public relations for Gurney’s Inn in Montauk and
American Dream originator. She noticed that some towns are
taking the bull by the horns and others are ignoring it. No
one thinks of it as one of those advertising scams. “When you
have a board like this behind you, it’s no bullshit, yah?”
said the German-accented Lemme.
Lemme conceived of the idea
as an extension of her American Dream projects, which have
included the popular Hamptons cable show called The American
Dream Show and American Dream Magazine. She almost
single-handedly undertook to make Montauk the first American
Dream Town in 2003 before enlisting the help of a
distinguished board of advisors to take the idea to the next
level. In the near future, the board plans to launch an
American Dream Cities contest and an American Dream Sister
Town international contest.
Members of the advisory board
include David Benton of The Rittenhouse, minister and writer
Dr. Forrest Church, Rabbi Marc Gellman and Reverend Monsignor
Thomas Hartman of the God Squad, George Hirsh of PBS and WLIW,
Steve Haweeli of WordHampton, Phil Lempert of NBC-Today and
WOR, Dee Lindholm of WVVH Hamptons TV, Denise Kasell of
Hamptons International Film Festival, Bruce Northam of
American Detour and National Geographic, Thorsten Piosczyk of
American Dream Magazine and Seven Stars & Stripes, Paul
Sladkus of Good News Broadcast, and Lori Stokes of ABC Good
Morning America.
Behind all of her American Dream projects
is Lemme’s passion for peace and a desire to see people of
different heritages come together in a common purpose, with
tolerance and understanding. The particular idea for the
American Dream Town contest came to her after September 11,
when people became afraid of flying and going abroad. She
realized that American towns were a great untapped travel
resource, and she felt that the contest would draw communities
closer together, evoke pride, and give people an excuse to
have some fun. The project also encourages people to remember
America’s small town roots, places where people knew each
other and related to each other as human beings.
So serious
and well recognized is the idea of peace behind the project
that the original art from the project is currently hanging at
the United Nations. The #1 national winner of the contest will
be awarded the art. The winner will also be featured on
television, get prominent placement on the American Dream web
site with links, and get full coverage in the American Dream
Town full-color, glossy hardcover book of 2004, which Random
House is going to publish and sell through bookstores. All of
the winners will be covered in the book and get tons of free
publicity. It costs nothing for nominated towns to compete,
they only stand to gain, said
Lemme.
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Copyright © 2002 East
Hampton Independent News Co.
All rights
reserved. |
