TOURISM
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Main Street Fort Pierce. The A.E. Backus Museum and Gallery
features his paintings as well as the art of the Florida Highwaymen,
a now-famous group of African-American artists who
learned from Backus. Both Backus and the Highwaymen are in
the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
The city has stayed true to its roots as a traditional small
waterfront city with a down-to-earth look and feel, and a background
reaching back to its earliest days in commercial fishing.
Carefully painted buildings highlighting the details of their
Mediterranean-style architecture, quaint lamp posts, brick pavers,
a restored 1923 theater and an attractive waterfront park
along with public art sculptures make the historical downtown
a magnet for visitors and residents. The city is in the process
of revitalizing another area of its historical downtown: Orange
Avenue, west of U.S. 1, now named the Peacock Arts District.
Events such as the farmers’ market, which draws about 5,000
visitors on Saturdays, the monthly FridayFest, the Jazz Craft
Market, the Oyster Fest and the Pirate Festival in Veterans
Memorial Park bring thousands downtown. “Our top-notch
farmers’ market, held in the park every Saturday year-round, is
consistently rated one of the top three in the nation and Florida,”
Hudson says. The community celebration of the holidays, Sights
and Sounds on Second, is a long-time family favorite.
Main Street sponsors the monthly “Coffee With the Mayor” at
the Fort Pierce Yacht Club on the waterfront, as well as the very
popular Halloween Ghost Walk, which now includes four different
tours with local community volunteers playing historic Fort
Pierce figures. Trolley tours of historical areas are a huge hit.
Fort Pierce cherishes its history and its historical buildings,
such as the Arcade Building and Boston House. Seven of the
city’s buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places,
WHAT CITIES MADE THE LIST OF 20?
(they are not ranked)
Kent, Connecticut
Cedarburg, Wisconsin
Frederick, Maryland
Galena, Illinois
York, Pennsylvania
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Covington, Kentucky
Howell, Michigan
Bath, Maine
Franklin, Tennessee
Staunton, Virginia,
Woodstock, Vermont
Silver City, New Mexico
Charleston, South Carolina
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Ogden, Utah
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Fort Pierce, Florida
Paso Robles, California
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