Chester not on winners list of Prettiest Painted Place

Despite beautifully painted buildings, Chester did not make the final cut of Prettiest Painted Places in America./ Photo by Dan Cote.

Chester is not among the winners of the Paint Quality Institute’s Prettiest Painted Places in America Competition.

Chester made the first cut – from nearly 200 places to 60 finalists, but was not among the 12 winners (one from a small town and one from a large town in each region) nor the nine nominees recognized for “exceptional merit.”

Chester was the only Vermont town  from among three (Stowe and Bellows Falls being the other two) to make it to the final round, giving it the unofficial title of “prettiest painted place in Vermont.”

The winners from the Northeast Region are Brookville, PA, and Downtown Frederick, MD. There were also two exceptional merit nominees in the region – Owego Historic District, N.Y., and Cape May, N.J.

Thousands of contacts, according to the PQI, were made with state tourism departments, convention and visitors’ bureaus, chambers of commerce and Main Street groups to invite communities to enter the competition. Chester’s nomination was made by Dan Cote of the Inn Victoria.

The PQI is a 23-year-old organization – owned by the Dow Chemical Co. — offering information on trends such as color, decorative techniques and innovative ways to use paint according to its website. See a video of the winners at http://blog.paintquality.com/ppp/