Sequim took third place in USA Today’s Best Small Town for Shopping online contest, while Port Townsend, nominated for the Best Coastal Small Town, didn’t make it into the top 10.
USA Today announced Friday its 10Best winners for both contests.
Sequim came in third behind top vote-getter Berlin, Md., and runner-up Lewes, Del.
Orcas Island, Sequim’s closest competitor by proximity, came in eighth.
The top three on the Best Coastal Small Town contest were Georgetown, S.C, Pismo Beach, Calif., and Eastport, Maine.
At one point, Port Townsend was in ninth place. At last look, it was in 11th place.
Viewers were encouraged to vote daily in each category for one of 20 cities across the nation with 25,000 people or less selected by a panel of travel writers, editors and bloggers.
The city with the most votes, or clicks, won bragging rights.
Voting ended the morning of May 14.
Last year, Sequim won “Best Northwestern Small Town” over cities from six states in the newspaper’s online contest.
Barbara Hanna, the city of Sequim’s communications and marketing director, said coming in third in a national competition is a big deal for Sequim.
“It’s a nod to our local merchants,” she said.
To read more about this and other contests from USA Today, visit https://tinyurl.com/PDN-Shopping and https://tinyurl.com/PDN-Coastal.