New Paltz was recently named one of the 26 best small towns in America by Buzzfeed.
Well, sort of.
Every year a few local towns pop up on lists like these. Usually, a writer provides a few paragraphs of description. In this case, Buzzfeed outsourced the job to readers and found images on Instagram.
Here’s the writeup, provided by user “emilyp46ba393d4“:
“This town is set right on a mountain range so the views are incredible and there are so many beautiful hikes. It’s an artsy, small town in a rural area with a great Main Street, featuring funky local businesses and awesome restaurants.”
You can’t really argue with that.
Will New Paltz’s inclusion on this prestigious list lead to a deluge of summer tourists, causing its great Main Street become even more of a parking lot on Friday afternoons than it was already would be? If you’re the owner of a funky local business or awesome restaurant, you probably wouldn’t mind that. In Saugerties, local officials eager to boost tourism played up its inclusion on a 2009 list by Budget Travel, even convincing the state to let them put a sign on the Thruway boasting of its confirmed coolness. (But apparently, Saugerties’ cool-factor peaked in that year, because it hasn’t made the list since.)
But most residents, the less national attention the better. The recent closure of a popular swimming hole in the Millstream in Woodstock was blamed on overcrowding due to its repeated inclusion in online lists of the best places to swim in the Hudson Valley and Upstate New York.
A blessing and a curse, indeed.
Join the family! 
