LEWISTON — Want to know how Lewiston is doing? Ask a kid.

That’s what the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council did and the results were both interesting and entertaining.

Asked about his favorite things in Lewiston, one spike-haired elementary school boy said, without even a moment of hesitation, “Marden’s.”

A few suggested Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary makes Lewiston great. Others said it was the parks; several said it was the library and a whole lot of the youngsters put forth that ice cream places such as Dairy Joy really put the city on the map.

The opinions were offered up in a film prepared by the council as part of a presentation called “The Voices of Youth Supporting Lewiston.”

Eric Hall, council chairman, said the group chose to quiz Farwell Elementary School children for the project because they were earnestly interested in hearing how children feel about their home city.

“We also wanted to attack the negatives we keep hearing about Lewiston,” Hall said.

Attack it they did, both through dialogue and in visual form. On display and up for sale Wednesday night were T-shirts with new designs, including one featuring the words “The Dirty Lew” with a slash across it.

It’s all part of the council’s “DO YOU DO LEW” positive-image campaign for Lewiston.

What else do the kids like? They like the opportunity to create art and the chance to do things along the riverfront. They like the Dempsey Challenge, the basketball courts, the soccer fields and almost every one of them likes pizza.

The older kids on the council panel weighed in, as well.

“It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” said Andrew Chin of Lewiston’s unique diversity.

“Everybody knows each other one way or another,” said council Vice Chairwoman Deni Federico, speaking of Lewiston’s size and friendliness.

The council’s Jazy Dumas raved about the city’s “evolving downtown.”

The evolving downtown appeals to adults who attended the Wednesday night event, as well. Several spoke of the revitalized lower Lisbon Street, where new shops, restaurants and art galleries continue to appear.

“There’s so much renewed enthusiasm,” said council adviser Dottie Perham-Whittier. “It’s kind of exciting to see new life coming into that area, and into the city as a whole.”

The panel gathered to create side-by-side lists, one enumerating the positives of Lewiston, the other listing the negatives.

The positive side, with its public theater, community gardens, great people and cultural diversity, ended up twice as long as the negative. Most of the negatives, as it turns out, were based on false rumors that plague Lewiston, such as the notion that the crime rate here is always high.

Or as Hall put it: “Lewiston gets a bad rap.”