PORT ANGELES — Is Port Angeles a better town than Santa Barbara, Calif.?

Outside magazine’s fifth annual Best Town Ever online contest to select the best town in the U.S. is taking votes, and as of Wednesday afternoon, Port Angeles was leading Santa Barbara 50.49 percent, or 9,323 votes, to 49.51 percent, or 9,141 votes, in the first round, which will end Friday.

Results this week

Results of the first round will narrow the field of 64 towns to 32. Each of the six rounds, each lasting five days, will cut the list in half, with pairs of towns in each contest.

The overall winner will be announced June 5.

The winner can then have bragging rights.

Votes can be cast at the Outside Online website, www.tinyurl.com/PDN-Outside.

Each voter gets one vote per round per matchup. Those who vote in each round will be eligible for prizes.

The Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce wasn’t notified of the entry and learned about it on a Facebook post, said Charlie Comstock, member services manager for the chamber.

“I was blown away. Right now, we’re ahead of Santa Barbara,” Comstock said.

PA’s advantages

Santa Barbara is a much larger city and better known, he said, but Port Angeles has a couple of advantages in this contest.

“It’s a different audience,” he said.

Managers of the magazine said in the introduction to the poll that the criteria for selection was towns “with great access to trails and public lands, thriving restaurants and neighborhoods, and, of course, a good beer scene.”

Comstock said he believes the current severe drought in Southern California and that area’s more crowded conditions make Port Angeles appealing to those who appreciate travel, fitness and recreation.

If Port Angeles wins the first round, it sets up a likely second-round showdown against another Western Washington town, Bainbridge Island, beginning midnight Saturday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Bainbridge Island held a strong lead over Ashland, Ore., 54.92 percent to 45.08 percent, with almost 17,000 votes cast.

“I think it’s going to be very interesting,” Comstock said of the possible competition against Bainbridge Island.

Bainbridge vs. PA?

It will come down to which resource people value more: Port Angeles’ access to Pacific Ocean beaches and Olympic National Park, or Bainbridge Island’s wooded island trails and access to Seattle resources, he said.

Port Angeles was nominated for a wild-card round by Instagram users and selected in the wild-card round for entry to the contest.

Other successful wild-card selectees were New York City; Saugatuck, Mich.; and Roanoke, Va.

Towns were divided by regions — East, West, Midwest and South — then organized into traditional competition brackets.

The first round includes large cities like New York City; Las Vegas; Birmingham, Ala.; and Detroit, which can be pitted against small towns Whitefish, Mont.; Spearfish, S.D.; Beaufort, S.C.; and Lake Placid, N.Y.

________

Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.