Best Town Ever battle heats up as final day approaches

Chattanooga and Port Angeles neck and neck in Outdoor Magazine contest

Aerial view of Coolidge Park and the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.
Aerial view of Coolidge Park and the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

Chattanooga holds a slim lead heading into the final day of Outside Magazine's "Best Town Ever" contest.

More than 100,000 votes have been counted, and Chattanooga is just 2,000 votes ahead of its final round opponent, Port Angeles, Wash.

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With the score tight heading into the home stretch, things have gotten testy. In the comments section on the competition's web page, proponents squabbled over the qualities of their respective towns, and posted pictures boasting each area's natural beauty.

Allegations of "robo-voting" were even thrown around, after Port Angeles reportedly saw an 8,000 vote surge in one hour last Saturday. Those allegations couldn't be confirmed, though shortly after the surge Outside Magazine added a CAPTCHA test (those prompts to type sequences of slightly distorted letters and/or numbers to determine if a user is human or not) to the voting process.

Despite the unpleasantness, many commenters upheld the spirit of the competition and promoted the merits of both towns.

Tourism bureau members from both Chattanooga and Port Angeles said they planned a big social media push for the final day. The Chattanooga Convention & Visitors Bureau issued a "10-Minute Challenge" in an email blast urging people to vote, then forward the email to ten contacts in Chattanooga, then ten contacts outside Chattanooga, and then to share on social media.

"We won this competition in 2011 and it has been a great source of community pride and driver of economic growth," the email said. "We'd like to win again, but our competition in the finals has the momentum going into the final day."

The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. Thursday night.

Read more

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