Other reasons that I call this town Idyll, and the university Idyllic State:
Functionally free public transportation; an endless succession of town fairs, festivals, and markets; aging hippies handing out Bernie materials; a very strong union culture; activist students; multiethnic, multilingual children frolicking in town squares; hand-painted wooden signs for Christmas tree sales; abundant farmers' markets; "Support Local Agriculture" signs and stickers on every third car, every second restaurant window, and every university food service table; people who, when they find out that you've just moved here, enthusiastically say, "Welcome to the [topographical feature]!"; distant views of mountains in three directions; eating a cider donut on a town square and watching my son having a skipping race with a little boy he'd just met; stopping in at a coffee shop for lunch and unexpectedly getting to see a ragtime band perform; yoga studios; coffee shops; restaurants; brilliant maples; white-steepled clapboard churches in every single town; winding roads through hills; gangs of wild turkeys roaming our neighborhood and yard; chipmunks; playgrounds; concerts; lovely public libraries; fantastic public schools; a populace who wants to live here.
On the downside: very cold winters, high property taxes (which pay for great schools and libraries, so I'm actually okay with this, but it is an expense), and the need to drive everywhere. The only walking that I regularly do is the 10-minute hike to my campus parking lot (yet another downside). But at least the drives are pretty.
(Idyllic State, viewed from the library)