The publicity Washington is receiving for being selected to the top-10 list of America’s Coolest Small Towns would cost the city much money if it had to pay for that publicity, according to Lynn Wingate, Washington’s tourism-development director.

Wingate discussed the city’s No. 5 ranking on that list and the campaign to have the city named America’s Coolest Small Town during the Washington Tourism Development Authority’s meeting Wednesday afternoon. The voting segment of the contest ended March 4.

“The bad news is we ended up at No. 5. The good news is we still get featured in the magazine. We still get featured on line. Our online (visitation) — if you look at our website — is up. Since the voting ended, our website traffic is up — no lie — 80 percent,” Wingate told the authority members.

Wingate said CNN aired a story about the contest and the towns that made the list.

“If we had to pay for that media piece, if would have been over $300,000 for us,” she said. “Even a No. 5 finish is going to come out fabulously for us, and we will continue to reap the benefits.”

The authority’s annual budget is less than $300,000.

The little town of Grand Marais, Minn., was named America’s Coolest Small Town for 2015, according to Budget Travel magazine, which conducted the contest that is in its tenth year. The other top-10 coolest small towns (in descending order) are Chincoteague, Va.; Hillsborough, N.C.; Allegan, Mich.; Washington, N.C.; Delhi, N.Y.; Fort Myers Beach, Fla.; Huron, Ohio; Snonomish, Wash.; and Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

The top 10 small towns will be featured in the July/August of Travel Budget’s bi-monthly tablet edition.

“Budget Travel has requested some additional photography. The state is sending their photographer down, so that’s another win for us to try and capture some things that maybe we don’t have in our inventory,” Wingate said. “That’s going to happen in the next few days. It’s been a real quick thing, but already the presence we’re getting in the media is fantastic. I’m really excited because I think we’re going to see a real increase in the traffic to Washington. It’s kind of put us on the national map, which is awesome.”

Wingate said her office is handling more requests than usual for this time of year for information about Washington since the city was named No. 5 on the list.

For additional coverage of the WTDA’s meeting, see future editions of the Washington Daily News.