Vote now, vote often: Washington in the running for coolest small town title

Published 8:12 pm Thursday, November 6, 2014

CITY OF WASHINGTON | CONTRIBUTED GETTING AROUND: This Gen. George Washington bobble-head — in front of the new dockmaster’s station on the waterfront — is part of the campaign to have Washington named as one of America’s Coolest Small Towns.

CITY OF WASHINGTON | CONTRIBUTED
GETTING AROUND: This Gen. George Washington bobble-head — in front of the new dockmaster’s station on the waterfront — is part of the campaign to have Washington named as one of America’s Coolest Small Towns.

So, you think you’re done voting for this year. Well, think again, especially if you like living in Washington — or visiting it.

There’s a campaign afoot to have Washington, the first town in the United States of America named for Gen. George Washington, chosen as America’s Coolest Small Town. Lynn Wingate, Washington’s tourism-development director, is scheduled to explain the campaign to the Washington City Council during its meeting Monday.

“This is a promotion that’s done annually by Budget Travel magazine. Budget Travel, if you’ve never read it, is a fantastic publication because … a lot of the information in the magazine is user-generated. So, it’s not necessarily travel writers. It’s tips and things that frugal travelers need to know; and frugal travelers are always looking for the best bang for their buck. So, this sort of goes along with that theme of finding the coolest small towns,” Wingate said. “It’s based on consumer input, which is another part of it that makes the contest very cool. It’s not something that the tourism office does. It’s not something that your advertising dollars pay for. It is totally based on feedback from people who love the small towns that have been nominated.”

How does one vote for Washington? It’s easy. Visit www.BudgetTravel.com and click on the banner to nominate America’s Coolest Small Town. Click on the green thumb’s-up logo next to Washington, NC.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Washington ranked third, behind Hillsborough, N.C., and Huron, Ohio, ranked first and second, respectively, at that time.

A person may vote once every 24 hours, and that person may vote by smartphone, tablet and computer. A poster asking people to vote for Washington instructs them to include #littlewashingtonnc and #ACST2015 on their social-media posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Wingate said the local campaign is targeting young people, hoping they will use #littlewashingtonnc and #ACST2015 when posting photographs of Washington on social-media sites. Around the city, posters are up promoting the campaign. By using the QR code on the posters, people may use their electronic devices to vote for Washington, Wingate said.

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. Dec. 2. The nominees will be reviewed and narrowed to a list of 15 finalists. In January 2015, the finalists will be posted and a new round of voting begins. The 10 top finishers will be announced in February 2015.

The contest seeks towns with populations less than 10,000 people and “a certain something that no place has: great shops, food, a unique history, a breathtaking location, peerless music scene, art galleries or maybe something cool we haven’t thought of yet,” according to the Budget Travel website.

Berlin, Md., was America’s Coolest Small Town for this year, according to the website.

During the “Terror the Turnage” production at the Turnage Theater on Halloween night, attendees were asked to vote for Washington.

The city’s tourism website — www.littlewashingtonnc.com — has a link to the contest. Under “quick links” on the tourism website, click on “E-Newsletter” and look under the New & Newsworthy header for the America’s Coolest Small Town entry.

 

 

 

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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