Durango is in the running to win the title “Best Town in America.”
As of this week, it has advanced to Round 2 in Outside magazine's nationwide tournament of the best 64 U.S. towns, where it now is facing off against Anchorage, Alaska.
Already, Durango's trophy shelf is stuffed with honors: In 1995, USA Today proclaimed Durango the least fashion conscious town in America. In 2009, the Society of American Travel Writers dubbed the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad one of the World's Top 10 Train Rides. In 2011, Lonely Planet declared zip-lining in Durango one of the top 10 ways to enjoy “feelings of weightlessness” in the world, alongside cave-diving hub Cenote Dos Ojos, Mexico. In 2012, the Smithsonian deemed Durango one of the 20 best small towns in the country.
Since her 2006 visit, even Oprah loves us.
But are we really the best town in America?
Tim Walsworth, executive director of Durango's Business Improvement District, was adamant that Durango is the nation's best town.
“I believe it is. I have chosen to live and raise my family here for many reasons, with our sense of community, our vibrant downtown and our access to the outdoors during all seasons as some of my top reasons.”
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said, “Durango is certainly deserving to be called one of America's best towns. I wish them the best of luck in their matchup with Anchorage in the second round.”
Others were less convinced. Amita Nathwani, an Ayervedic practitioner, said Durango needs to “improve our parking situation” if it wants to be worthy of the superlative “best town in America.”
Meanwhile, Leah Biersack cited Durango's low wages and high rents as areas of municipal inadequacy.
Even those who believe Durango really is America's best town are circumspect about Durango winning the title.
Sam Brennan said he hopes a lesser city snags the crown.
“Durango's nice right now, but it could get way too crowded if it was labeled the best town in America,” he said.
Others insisted all of Durango should rally round the cause of getting voted “best town in America,” describing the naysayers' hesitation as heretical.
“It would be great for tourism,” said Debbie Krawecke. “Quite frankly, if you say 'no,' you need to move.”
What are our competitive weaknesses?
One of the problems with Durango's campaign to win “best town in America” is that the contest's standards are somewhat nebulous. For instance, do the people who nominated us know about our dirty dust storms and prolific parking tickets? Within the context of this tournament, does locals' tendency to spontaneously fornicate in public count as a pro or a con?
Jack Llewellyn, executive director of Durango's Chamber of Commerce, said Durangoans should not psych themselves out of the competition with pesky existential questions.
“Based on the criteria I have seen, Durango is definitely one of the best towns in America. Our diverse economy helps us to weather the downturns. With the broad base of primary job providers, tourism, arts and culture, and the college, we have so much to offer. Add the natural resources such as the Animas River and 2 million acres of national forest combined with diversity of jobs, Durango offers a unique mix,” he wrote in an email.
If ranking towns in a highly unscientific online poll is a preposterous, not to say an intellectually meaningless, exercise, Llewellyn refused to admit it. Asked what the second-best town in America might be, Llewellyn said, “possibly Bend, Oregon, from what I have heard.”
Could Durango win?
Beyond the soul-stirring question of whether Durango deserves to win the epithet of “best town in America” is a practical one: Can Durango win a nationwide online popularity contest with a population of just 17,000?
The town certainly will need a well-conceived electoral strategy if it is to defeat mighty Anchorage, with its population of nearly 300,000.
Outside Associate Editor Jonah Ogles said that on the Internet, there are no hanging chads. Raw vote totals count, and small towns don't get bonus points for racking up more votes per capita. But there still is plenty of room for hijinks. For instance, Outside's website can't tell you've voted more than once if you cast votes using different browsers.
“So you can vote three times in one round as long as you use different browsers,” he said.
Beyond cheating, what can Durango do to win?
According to Outside, in the final election math, hamlets with powerful get-out-the-vote operations always will prevail over those who deploy dirty tricks.
Last year's near-victor, Greenville, South Carolina, thwarted more populous rivals across the country by ginning up honest-to-God enthusiasm for the honorific among its residents, with the mayor throwing a parade.
In the last months, Durango's city government has demonstrated itself to be generous and decisive, spending $17,000 on a retirement party for former city attorney David Smith – or about $1 per Durango resident, “a small price to pay to recognize someone who did such a great job for 37 years,” City Manager Ron LeBlanc said.
But when the odds are bleak and Durangoans' backs are against the wall in the battle to become “America's Best Town,” will our city leaders exhibit the same whatever-it-takes, Rambo-like commitment that propelled wee Greenville to the finish line?
While City Council has yet to propose any concrete measures for advancing Durango in the tournament, in an email, Mayor Sweetie Marbury endorsed Durango, saying, “I live in the best town in America.”
For tourists and prospective inhabitants, winning Outside's tournament could place yet another gilded exclamation point behind Durango's vaunted name.
“Durango is a tourist town and depends on outside dollars to make the wheels roll for all those who live and work here,” Marbury said.
“Who wouldn't want to live here? It would be hypocritical of anyone in my position to say 'close the gate' since I'm here.”
If Durango's city government throws its weight behind Durango's bid, a little town in the Southwest indeed might triumph over municipal giants like Nashville and Minneapolis – and even Boulder.
Mobilizing voters is Durango's surest hope of victory, Ogles said.
“If I were you guys, that's the strategy I'd use,” he said.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
How to vote:
To vote in the contest,
click here.
