Holland, MI vs. Carlisle, PA

Welcome to our Final Four round of the Strongest Town Competition. We invite you to listen to the following interviews that Charles Marohn, president of Strong Towns, conducted with representatives from two towns in our contest. Once you've finished listening, please scroll down to the bottom to vote for the strongest!


Holland, MI

Mayor Nancy DeBoer, City Council representative Brian Burch, and City Manager Ryan Cotton discuss their community's diversity, snow melting capacity, theater scene, and strong local businesses including several breweries, plus what Brian labels "the best beaches in the world." They also discuss the challenge of redesigning their civic center.

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More about Holland


Carlisle, PA

Brenda Landis (Carlisle West Side Neighbors), Chris Varner (Elm Street Manager) and Safronia Perry (Hope Station) discuss Carlisle's good schools, community festivals, hometown sports teams and their incredible restaurant scene. They also open up about the negative effect of local factory closures and how they're trying to handle that.

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More about Carlisle


Voting is now closed for this round.


Top graphic by Matthias Leyrer