Count Basie Theatre It’s official: Red Bank is a destination. The local hub was listed as the No. 3 pick in Smithsonian magazine’s “The 20 Best Small Towns in America” in its May issue.
“It was a surprise to have achieved such a great honor but not altogether unexpected since I know what we have and what our potential is. We live in a great area, but frankly we are the heart and soul of the entire area,” said Mayor Pasquale Menna in an April 20 email.
The mayor credited the arts community, restaurants and businesses for providing a diverse culture and everyone from the police and fire departments to the neighborhoods and public education system for contributing to a spirited environment.
Culture was the core attribute the magazine was looking for when considering which locales across the country should receive the honor of being among the best small towns.
Two River Theater According to the Smithsonian website, www.smithsonianmag.com, the list was created with the help of geographic information systems company Esri, which searched its database for locations with high concentrations of museums, historic sites, botanic gardens, resident orchestras, art galleries and other cultural assets similar to those of big cities.
Great Barrington, Mass., and Taos, N.M., ranked first and second on the 20 Best Small Towns list.
Red Bank lands in many of those categories thanks to historic landmarks like the Count Basie Theatre, the Red Bank train station and the Molly Pitcher Inn.
Smithsonian also focused on towns that have populations of fewer than 25,000 residents but could draw in visitors from surrounding areas. The borough has a population of 12,200 people.
Cafes, art galleries, street fairs, clubs and shops are scattered throughout the downtown while parks along the Navesink River serve as a venue for jazz concerts and food festivals. Additionally, the Two River Theater provides the stage for plays and musicals.
The Bistro at Red Bank “It all adds up to a model for small-town renewal,” stated the website.
But what has remained a constant in Red Bank’s changing history is the variety of restaurants that have always driven people in for a bite to eat. Val Aufiero, proprietor of the Front Street Trattoria for 28 years, said in an April 20 interview that it is the camaraderie of the restaurants that has created a lasting partnership in the community and led to the launch of the Flavour campaign last fall.
“I think the restaurants really have played a cultural part of Red Bank because we have all banded together and formed the Flavour campaign, which is our branding, and we’re just extremely lucky that we have so many restaurants and a lot of talented chefs here in town,” she said. “We’re all here to help one another when we need it. That’s very unique.”
Front Street Trattória Aufiero added that the riverfront proximity as well as the retail, theaters and hotels strengthens the overall ambiance, which thrives on having a little bit of something for everyone.
“When we first started 28 years ago, there was no nightlife, no night traffic and it was almost as if the sidewalks were rolled up. Now people come into town at night and they go to the theater, they come in for the weekend and stay at the Molly Pitcher Inn or the Oyster Point Hotel and they come into town to stroll or shop and eat or go to the movies. The nightlife has changed tremendously,” she said.
“We’re still a small town but we have so much diversity and I think that is what is very attractive to people coming into town. It’s very charming.”
Broad Street, downtown Red Bank Accolades, like those from the Smithsonian, along with everything Red Bank has always offered, is not new to the people who enjoy the town regularly.
Menna talked about enhancing the vibrancy of the borough. New housing and recreational projects near the train station, on the west side and throughout the business district, will revive underused spaces, he said.
“In order to do that we have to use our borough properties in better fashion and yet we have to forge ahead with parking enhancements and solutions to address the influx. We want to continue to be business-bullish and want corporations to move in,” said Menna.
Looking to the future, the mayor was optimistic about boosting tourism by highlighting the downtown.
“That coupled with late-night entertainment and cultural venues will keep our retail commercial base going strong only if they respond to market forces and cater to the shopping hours of the majority of the public,” he said. Menna lauded the town’s growth over the years and encouraged residents and business people to embrace the change the borough has seen thus far and will continue to see in the future, calling it “inexorable.”
“In light of what is happening with our revitalization, I would hope that RiverCenter, our business alliance, looks outside the box — and does so soon — to do things differently and engage itself in the new changing Red Bank in order to remain relevant.”