Announcing This Year's Strongest Town Contest Winner
Every year, through the Strongest Town Contest, we get to hear from 16 places that are doing the hard but rewarding work of making their communities stronger and more resilient. 2023 has been no different: The towns, cities, and villages that made up our Sweet 16 this year are all making great strides toward becoming better and more prosperous places to live.
In Round 1, we got to hear what each town was doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking in their places, maintain their existing infrastructure instead of building more roads, change zoning laws and allow for more incremental development, create greater transparency in their accounting and budgeting, and build safer streets. Then, in Round 2, we got to go on a virtual tour through each town, getting an insider’s look into what makes them great. Round 3 saw commentary on the Final Four towns from Strong Towns members, and, finally, in the championship round, representatives from our finalists sat down for a webinar with Strong Towns Program Director Rachel Quednau.
With each round of voting, we’ve halved our pool of contestants, and now, after four rounds and thousands of votes cast, we are ready to announce the winner. The 2023 Strongest Town is…
Brattleboro, Vermont!
Congratulations to the Brattleboro team—Sarah Lang, Tom Mosakowski, Sue Fillion, and Stephen Hayes—and to the whole town of Brattleboro!
Brattleboro is a town of 12,184 in southeastern Vermont. Its well-preserved historic downtown—full of vibrant shops, restaurants, and second-story retail and office space—is kept thriving thanks to the Brattleboro Downtown Alliance, as well as the town’s active chamber of commerce. Brattleboro sports walkable neighborhoods around its downtown, a strong community for the arts and culture, a great deal of rural land that contributes to the town’s economy, and numerous outdoor recreation opportunities. Perhaps most important of all, the town’s strong sense of resilience has encouraged its residents to build partnerships in order to tackle difficult problems.
Brattleboro has been a champ through every stage of the contest, making it past worthy contenders Dunellen, NJ; Selma, NC; and Jackson, TN in the first three rounds. In the final round, Brattleboro squared off against Saranac Lake, New York—and it was a tight contest between two incredible challengers! At the end, Brattleboro pulled through with 50.45% of the votes, versus 49.55% for Saranac Lake. This was one of the closer calls we’ve had in Strongest Town Contest history, and our hats are off to both of our finalists.
Ultimately, we hope others will look to Brattleboro as an example of what it means to build lasting strength and resilience in their communities. We’ll be flying representatives from Brattleboro to our National Gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, so that we can present them with the Strongest Town 2023 Championship Award in person.
Thank you to everyone who followed along with the contest and voted, especially our members, whose experience, insight, and industry make this organization possible.
