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Gloucester balances its intertwined past and future with assurance and skill. The city, long renowned among artists for
the purity of its light, has traditionally been the home of
internationally known painters like Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and
Fitzhugh Lane and sculptors like Walker Hancock. In addition, the Cape Ann
Symphony makes its home in Gloucester as does the critically acclaimed
Gloucester Theatre Company, whose director and playwright, Israel Horovitz,
is known on and off Broadway.
But the beautiful harbor that attracts a
sizeable artistic population is also a working harbor which is one of the
top three fishing ports in the northeast. The picturesque fishing fleet,
manned primarily by Portuguese and
Italian residents of the city, supports a major fish packaging and
freezing industry. Residents note emphatically that the city is not a
bedroom community, offering work to many of its residents in five
industrial parks which produce everything from T-shirts to electronics and
engineering.
Gloucester is equally proud of the diversity of its population, with
working class and ethnic residents as well as old wealthy families and
newer summer visitors. Estimates indicate that summer residents push
up the population by about a third, drawn by the physical beauty of its
location, by the vigorous whale-watching industry, sea-side restaurants
and colorful festivals. Understanding the value of its healthy working
waterfront, Gloucester has sought to protect it by banning all residential
development there. However, acknowledging that the fishing industry
is changing rapidly, the city is planning to develop further a controlled
tourism, working with the National Park Service on proposals to create an
historic industrial fishing park which will feature a working fishing
fleet.
The city hopes to use its physical setting and history as a basis
for balanced growth and change, without losing those characteristics most
loved by its residents. |
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