bws #33 04/10
PUBLIC URGED TO VOTE FOR BARNEGAT LIGHT
IN "AMERICA'S COOLEST SMALL TOWN" CONTEST
FINALIST - Barnegat Light is the only NJ finalist in a contest to be named "America's Smallest Cool Town." Being home
to a commercial fishing fleet and the iconic Barnegat
Lighthouse are among the many unique aspects of the small community.
TOMS RIVER -- Barnegat Light is a finalist in the selection of "America's Coolest Small Town," a contest sponsored by
Arthur Frommer's "Budget Travel" magazine. It is the only New Jersey community in the running.
Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari encouraged county residents and visitors to vote for the tiny seashore town at
www.budgettravel.com by the May 9 deadline.
Vicari said, "The contest rules considered towns with populations up to 10,000 in the small category, so we need to
give Ocean County's third smallest community, which has only 838 year round residents, a helping hand. We hope the
many thousands of visitors who have climbed Barnegat Lighthouse will learn of this effort and lend their support as
well."
The 21 finalists were selected from a field of 147 nominations. According to the magazine, a "Coolest Small Town" is a
town that's beginning to draw attention—and new residents—because of the quality of life, arts, and restaurant scene,
or proximity to nature."
Vicari said, "The site encourages fans to submit their own photographs and videos so this is an opportunity for those
who have been to the town to have their works displayed on a national publication's website."
At .07 square miles small, Barnegat Light, nestled among the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay and Barnegat Inlet, packs a
wallop when it comes to interesting sites and activities. It is home to the state's iconic red and white lighthouse,
Old Barney, in Barnegat Lighthouse State Park as well as a commercial fishing fleet at Viking Village, where weekly
behind the scenes dock tours are conducted, Art galleries, antique and boutique shops abound and restaurants offer the
freshest seafood to be found. A clam nursery is hosted by the environmental group, ReClam the Bay, and the lighthouse's
original 1,000 plate lens is housed in a one room schoolhouse museum surrounded by the Edith Duff Gwinn Gardens.
Barnegat Light is a legally incorporated municipality on the northern end of 20-mile Long Beach Island, New Jersey's
longest offshore island .
