The City of Nacogdoches Main Street program and the Nacogdoches Convention & Visitors Bureau are thrilled to announce their recent nomination in the USA Today and Rand McNally Best of the Road Competition.
(Click to make larger) Nacogdoches CVB Visitor Services Cassie Ellis holds up a Texas Friendly Spoken Here sign in historic downtown Nacogdoches in honor of our recent nomination!
Over 20,000 Americans from coast to coast weighed in to name their favorite town as the Most Beautiful, Most Patriotic, Friendliest, Most Fun or Best for Food. The top towns in five categories have been narrowed down from more than 600 submissions and will be reviewed personally by the Best of the Road Rally teams via blog posts, video and photos. Leading off in New York City on June 23, five rally teams will be assigned one category to review key towns and verify which truly deserves to win the title of Best of the Road in its category. The top 30 finalist towns were determined by a combination of public appeal and analysis of reviews and photos by the judges. Teams participating in the Best of the Road Rally will visit four finalist towns in an assigned category as well as two additional towns determined by the competition’s judges. Nacogdoches was selected by the judges in the “Friendliest” category. Best of the Road judges will announce the winning towns at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention on July 22. The top towns will be highlighted onwww.bestoftheroad.com and in the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas, as well as on USA TODAY’s Travel site.
Finalists and judges picks in the friendliest category are:
Friendliest
• Walla Walla, WA
• Valdosta, GA
• Mount Airy, NC
• Lake Havasu, AZ
• Woodward, OK*
• Nacogdoches, TX*
*Indicates Best of the Road judges’ picks
“We are so honored to have been selected by the judges in this category,” said Main Street Manager Sarah O’Brien. The Nacogdoches CVB and the City of Nacogdoches Main Street Program are currently making plans to roll out the red carpet for the team upon their arrival. “We are planning a celebration and have lined up several sponsors already. Many thanks to R & K Distributors, Auntie Pasta’s and Hotel Fredonia for agreeing to help us out. Once we have final confirmation of the team’s travel plans we will be inviting the entire community downtown to help us celebrate,” said O’Brien. As always businesses, residents are encouraged to put on their usual “friendly” faces from June 23rd to July 14th to everyone they encounter. “We know we are one of the friendliest towns around, this is the perfect opportunity for Nacogdochians to show the rest of the country what we already know.”
The Nacogdoches Main Street Program currently offers free Texas Friendly Hospitality training to all downtown business. 300 + City employees have also been trained in the Texas Agri Life customer service training program. If you are your business are interested in training opportunities please contact the City of Nacogdoches Main Street Office at 936-559-2573.
For more information or questions about the Rand McNally Best of the Road Competition you can visit: http://www.bestoftheroad.com/roadRally.do . For details on how Nacogdoches will be celebrating or how you can help conntact the Nacogdoches Main Street Office at 936-559-2573 or via email at obriens@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us or call the Nacogdoches CVB at 936-564-7351 or via email at info@visitnacogdoches.org .
