As a resident of a small town I have to disagree with Woj a bit here. Small towns are certainly insular to some degree but never underestimate the draw of "out-of-towners". Too many small town residents chafe at the idea of being small town and groups from "the-big-city" affirm in their mind that they are not so small town after all. They are greeted openly as proof of such. It is also sometimes easier for out of town organizations to get permits that would be denied locals. The town does not want to risk being seen as backward by denying a permit to an organization from NYC. There is no hesitation to deny a local group a permit since it will not be reported and the risk of looking "small-town" is minimal.
[WS:] I take your point, but also there are two different groups of people that we are talking about: "ordinary" locals and "civic minded" locals. It is the latter, I presume, who are concerned about the outside image of their locality, and are in the position to do things to improve it e.g. by being town officials, civil leaders, librarians, intellectuals, etc. The former are more likely to be as I described them and form the majority.
But again I agree with the point that you and Jim Straub raise that making sweeping generalizations about these, or any other, places is likely to go wrong.
Wojtek