why NOT have a chat or message board forum where ppl can ask questions, share stories, and make comments? Facebook has 500 million users, YOUR forum would have anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred members that are there to talk SPECIFICALLY about goings-on in your town/village. There is great value in that I wouldn't discount so quickly. If I were a tourist in my hotel room/cabin and didn't know where to go for dinner or golf etc (and I haven't been into town yet) the FIRST thing I will do is get online to see what's up. Yes you can have a "Dining" page that lists ALL the restaurants in the town, but that's going to include the BAD ones. With a community forum I could log in and find out which places actually have GOOD food and service. The same goes for entertainment, coffee etc. Also I can ask about hiking trails, picnic spots, holes in the wall, and general find out things that locals would know, but wouldn't normally be included as general info on the towns web site. (Yes you may have hiking spots but some locals may know some "secret ones", or where to get the best apple pie, that sort of thing...)

Open Forums are generally not utilized by cities for two reasons. The first is liability when anybody can say anything but it becomes somewhat official anything disparaging or negative is implied to be official also. Forums also require a certain amount of dedicated man-power. If someone has a question and nobody replies "right now". You have tarnished the entire city image, which generally defeats the purpose of a city website.

Instead of a forum if you want some "home-town" flavor. Get a few qualified volunteers to blog about the town once a week, or once a month, or whenever they get around to it. Provide email accounts for the blogger(s) and post that address or provide a webform so visitors can ask questions, and make comments. This allows for responses in either public or private depending on the specifics.