Vote Now As Annapolis Vies For Strongest Town Title

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A thriving downtown district, diverse local employers and generally safe neighborhoods might win Annapolis another title: Strongest Town. City officials are urging residents to vote for their hometown in the bracket-style contest, which pits Annapolis against Tupelo, Mississippi.

Strong Towns, a national nonprofit working to build financial resilience in America's cities, towns and neighborhoods, is hosting a competition to determine the strongest town in the world. This is the third annual "Strongest Town Contest" and Annapolis is among the 16 towns vying for the recogntion.

Teams of applicants (including government staff, citizen activists and nonprofit leaders) were invited to apply to the contest by answering a series of questions about their community, and the communities were selected to compete in a bracket-based competition to determine which is the strongest, according to a news release. Towns are judged based on criteria like financial solvency, citizen engagement, transportation options and ability to adapt to new challenges. Learn more about Strong Towns' principles here: www.strongtowns.org.

The 16 towns selected for the initial competition are: Brewton, Alabama; San Bruno, California; Pensacola, Florida; Palmetto Bay, Florida; Twin Falls, Idaho; Westmont, Illinois; Mishawaka, Indiana; Annapolis, Maryland; Marshall, Michigan; Muskegon, Michigan; Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico; Tupelo, Mississippi; Niagara Falls, New York; Kent, Ohio; Greenville, South Carolina; and San Marcos, Texas.

You can vote for Annapolis here; the place to vote is at the bottom of that page.

The Annapolis entry was submitted by Eric Borchers, Sally Nash, and Hollis Minor.

What is your favorite thing about your town?

Through historic preservation and careful planning in neighborhoods that span the centuries, the City offers a unique small-town quality of life with historical and maritime charm, yet also provides big-City style and modern amenities. Annapolis offers a great variety of excellent dining and entertainment options but it is still small enough that it’s easy to find a place for yourself in the community. From its earliest days as a colonial capital city, Annapolis was known as the “Athens of America” due to its wealth of cultural activities, a glittering social season, gracious hospitality and intellectual stimulation. More than 300 years of welcoming visitors has made our hospitality second to none. You will find the same welcoming atmosphere today, drawing more than 4 million people a year to the City’s shores to indulge in our historic architecture, world-renowned cuisine, thriving maritime amenities and diverse cultural arts activities. Whether you come for the history, education, water or hospitality, there is always something happening in Annapolis for you to enjoy.

Through March 30, readers of the Strong Towns website will be invited to vote for the strongest town in daily bracket-based match ups, much like the NCAA's annual basketball tournament. First round voting will be based on answers to a short series of questions, and subsequent rounds will include photo essays, podcast recordings and a final webinar showdown for the championship.

Image by Patch Editor Emily Leayman