Update on Round Four: Chattanooga Leads Boone by More Than 2,700 in Day Two

Don’t forget to vote online at outsideonline.com/vote and see the latest results.

bracketround4 — Best Towns 2015 Bracket (click for full size image)

Update: We’re now in the second of five days of online voting in the fourth round and Chattanooga leads Boone by more than 2,700 votes. We have until Saturday to catch up, so let’s get to it!

Share the link to vote with your friends and neighbors and encourage them to help us win. This is an amazing opportunity for Boone and we just can’t pass it up!

votesmay20 — Best Towns 2015 Round Four voting results as of 10:15 a.m. on May 20

By Jessica Isaacs

Only eight towns remain as the fourth round of online voting begins today in Outside Magazine‘s Best Towns 2015 competition. After maintaining a steady lead over Athens, Georgia in the third five-day round earlier this week, Boone earned a chance to vie for the top spot in the South bracket against Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Not only did we pull in enough votes to knock Athens out of the tournament, we earned 14,475 votes — more than any of the 15 other contenders from across the country who participated in the third round. This accomplishment would not have been possible without a phenomenal response from our readers, local businesses that are helping to spread the word and people all across North Carolina who are stepping up to vote for Boone as their favorite place to live, work, study and play.

The only competing town that trailed closely behind Boone was Flagstaff, Arizona, which earned 14,117 in the West bracket.

Our newest contender, Chattanooga, defeated Beaufort, South Carolina in the third round with a total of 13,283 votes.

Wondering who else made it to the top eight?

Of four wild card contenders that were added to the original top 60 through early online voting, Port Angeles, Washington is the only one still in the running and takes on Flagstaff this week to win the West.

Middlebury, Vermont and Bar Harbor, Maine are battling it out in the East, and Spearfish, South Dakota is up against Eau Claire, Wisconsin in the Midwest.

So what does this mean for our town?

Boone is now the only North Carolina town in the running for the top spot and, with just two towns left in the bracket, we have a chance to be the only contender in the South to make it to the final four.

Fourth round voting began today and will continue until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, May 23.

We’ve earned more than 2,300 in the first 12 hours of the fourth round, but we’re already trailing behind Chattanooga. We’ve proved to be a worthy contender in the competition so far, but it’s time to kick our voting in to high gear.

Let’s not forget what’s at stake here! If we can make it to the top spot, Boone will be recognized as the “Best Town Ever” and will be the star of a feature story in the September issue of Outside — a nationally recognized outdoor and adventure magazine. As much of our local economy depends on travel and tourism, this is an amazing opportunity for the High Country, and we can all be a part of making it happen.

We’ve accomplished a lot so far, so keep that momentum going and the votes coming! Don’t let your hard work go to waste and let Chattanooga take us out. There’s a lot on the line and this round will be a challenge, but our town can do it!

Here’s how you can help.

If you want Boone to win it all, make sure you vote online every day. Encourage your friends to do the same by spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #BooneNC and #BestTowns2015 — and don’t forget to include the link to vote at Outside online.

Winners will advance until two towns remain, and the ultimate winner will be announced on June 5.

Here are the results from round three: