NeoPatrick

So Lambertville, NJ (my home) made number 5. Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing? Last year we were named in the top "charming" towns in America by another magazine. I think I like charming better than Quirky.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/arti...rkiest-towns/1

JanetKMR

I think it's supposed to be a good thing, but like you find charming a better adjective.

I think of Charlottesville as charming, not quirky.

starrs

Quirky is fun.

JanetKMR

Quirky is fun....I think of P-town as Quirky, but not Charlottesville.

NeoPatrick

Lots of definitions of Quirky, but this seems pretty typical, and I'm still not sure what the article is driving at -- particularly when you compare what they say about various towns. How does having a really old antique store or having a coffee shop that uses frozen coffee cubes in iced coffee make a place "quirky"?

quirk·y
ˈkwərkē/
adjective
adjective: quirky; comparative adjective: quirkier; superlative adjective: quirkiest

characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits.
"her sense of humor was decidedly quirky"
synonyms: eccentric, idiosyncratic, unconventional, unorthodox, unusual, strange, bizarre, peculiar, odd, outlandish, zany;

elberko

Probably better then sexiest:
http://crossroads.newsworks.org/inde...caster-is-sexy
I'll bet it's those Amish...

~Liz

NeoPatrick

elberko, that's funny. So number of adult novelty stores per capita help determine how "sexy" a city is? I thought that would simply boost its "sleeziness" rating.

elberko

I know! Really bizarre. For some reason it's been mentioned on the local NPR news today.

NeoPatrick

Back to Lambertville. I realize they need to be brief, and maybe it was their choices of what to talk about that seemed not to fit "quirkiness". But there are other things that could have been perhaps better examples.

We have NO franchises -- no MacDonald's, Starbucks, or even Domino's. There is a CVS pharmacy on the edge of town but I understand even that was permitted with much controversy -- trying to protect the couple of local mom and pop pharmacies.

Halloween in Lambertville is a huge event -- closing the main residential street where for a month houses are decorated with all kinds of things -- my favorite an entire graveyard of Tim Burton like life sized figures all over the yard and porches.

The biggest event of the year is the Shad Fest, celebrating the now almost extinct Shad (fish) which used to be harvested from the Delaware River, mainly for its roe. But at the Shad Fest there is generally no Shad (well one place last year did offer shad sandwiches), and there is almost no reference to fish at all. It just seems an excuse for a party/street fair.

The town was named Amwell until the early 1800s when the town's most prominent family, the Lamberts, appointed one of their own as postmaster who promptly decided to change the name of the town to Lambertville, much to the anger of all the other town's most prominent families. Now THAT's Quirky.

starrs

But New Hope is not on the list.

NeoPatrick

No it's not, although there was a reference to New Hope in the article.
I'd agree that New Hope (across the river in Pa) is more Quirky that Lambertville (particularly as it mentions for its biker culture and Wican shops). While I'd say Lambertville is more "charming".

elberko

I would agree with those assessments of New Hope and Lambertville.

IMDonehere

We all know lists can be useless. A number of the towns listed are also college towns. Last year we went to New Hope and Lambertville. New Hope was disappointing, about 40 years past its prime, but Lambertville was much more interesting and we ate at a pretty good place called El Tule.

Quirky is when you walk into the donut shop and it is a taxidermy parlor.

http://www.eltulerestaurant.com/

NeoPatrick

"Quirky is when you walk into the donut shop and it is a taxidermy parlor."

Yea, I'd call that quirky too! LOL

IMDonehere, funny, we ate at El Tule just once (s group of us) and had a horrible experience -- from their losing orders, to getting them wrong, to the food being just plain not good. And our Peruvian friend won't go near it again ever! Although I won't claim to know much about Peruvian food, all I know is I didn't like what I got, and suspect that way overcooked and dried out beef with burned black onions and peppers is not typical of good Peruvian.

NewbE

<The biggest event of the year is the Shad Fest, celebrating the now almost extinct Shad (fish) ...But at the Shad Fest there is generally no Shad (well one place last year did offer shad sandwiches), and there is almost no reference to fish at all.>

I dunno, that sounds pretty quirky to me!

The list is odd. I have been to Amelia Island (FL) and it is not quirky. I mean, I don't live there, so I could be wrong, but even their description lacks any hint of the truly quirky. Surely Key West is quirkier??

DebitNM

Quirky appears to = $$$$ in many of the selection.

Dukey1

Sorry, but slipping and sliding around on icy roads is NOT "charming" and never has been.

Yes, the whole area is wonderful and my uncle thought so, too, until he sold that farm to the well-known play writer and decamped for New Orleans and Katrina.

I will say this: your life, even if it is crowded with incident, has not been chronicled to death here (thank you for that) AND I trust this second time around remains fulfilling.

NeoPatrick

Yes hurricanes are so much more pleasant than an occasional icey road (something in my three years here I have yet to experience by the way).

And yes, second time around remains fulfilling. Glad I haven't bored you with details.