Parade Magazine has announced McMinnville as the first runner up for America's Best Main Street! Parade editors selected 16 out of 2,000 reader-nominated main streets, then in June, readers voted for their favorites.
Here is what Parade Magazine has to say about finalist McMinnville, Oregon.
You know there’s something special about a main drag when locals refer to it as the community’s “living room.” “Third Street is the reason I chose to raise my family here,” says schoolteacher Sara Tucholski, who moved to McMinnville (pop. 33,131) in 2002. “It offers a bit of everything.”
Pedestrians might pop into Grain Station Brew Works to sample their craft beers, or browse American-made vintage clothes and decor at Rag ’n’ Bone/Mid Mod. Then they can enjoy a five-star meal at Thistle, which buys its produce from family farms within 45 miles.
But McMinnville wasn’t always so vibrant. The town was struggling economically until the Willamette Valley’s wine industry began to flourish in the mid-’80s. Today, Third Street is home to nine tasting rooms, where tourists and locals sip pinot noir from vineyards in the surrounding hills.
During the town’s resurgence, 15 blocks were added to the National Register of Historic Places, many lined with the brick buildings that replaced the first structures built by settlers who arrived on the Oregon Trail. But what makes McMinnville truly unique, says resident Sunny Miller, are its people: “They are authentic, a little rough around the edges in a beautiful way, and undeniable friendly.”
Read more about Parade Magazine's America's Best Main Street contest here.
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