Petersburg is in the running this summer to be named the best town in the nation for yachting.
Alaska’s Little Norway was named as a top-10 town by the editors of Yachting Magazine in the July edition. Liz Cabrera, coordinator for the Petersburg Economic Development Council, said a few things make Petersburg a good destination for yachts. “One of them is the spectacular scenery obviously,” Cabrera said. “It’s a great base to explore central Southeast Alaska and I think the awesome harbor that we have, how well it’s run. It’s open 24 hours a day. And then the fact that if you tie up in the harbor you can get almost everywhere you need to get walking, its within walking distance, you can get to the grocery store, the hardware stores and all sorts of services that you might need are right here and close to the harbor.”
The magazine’s editors select a top 10 and then online voting decides the best in the country. Oxford, Maryland and Beaufort, North Carolina were the past two winners. This year Petersburg is up against some big towns and Cabrera encouraged people to vote online. “Yeah we’re up against some stiff competition, some large communities, like Seattle, New Orleans. So it woud be nice if everyone that is on Facebook could vote. And I think you can vote more than once, but maybe it’s just once a day,” she said.Also in the top ten this year are Portland, Maine, San Francisco, Fernandina Beach, Florida, Jamestown, Rhode Island, Mackinac Island, Michigan, Montauk, New York and Ocracoke, North Carolina.
PEDC president Casey Flint hopes Petersburg’s top-10 listing will attract more visitors to the area and boost the local economy. The top yachting town is named in a fall issue. People can vote through Facebook until August 30th.
