And the Greenest City is..

"In a weathered barn strung with twinkle lights, I stood chatting with a farmer who topped his slick hair with a baseball cap. Under the beamed roof, children ate cookies on bales of hay while their parents two-stepped across the creaky floor.

Outside, gaggles of people drank beer and ate slices of wood-fired pizza topped with beets and goat cheese, both local products. Banners flapped in the breeze near the brick oven, declaring "Thank you, farmers" and "Good food helps." Other people ambled through a garden crowded with hollyhocks, black-eyed Susans and daylilies, where the swell of cricket songs drowned out laughter spilling from the barn. Tents filled with long tables for the party glowed as darkness fell.

I was nearly glowing, too. I had been in Burlington, Vt., for less than 24 hours, and already I felt like an insider."

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