Watertown named finalist for Most Patriotic Town in America

America has spoken and the results are in!

Watertown has been selected to be on the itinerary for Best of the Road®, Rand McNally’s online travel guide, for Most Patriotic. Rand McNally launched the contest with USA TODAY to celebrate the Great American Road Trip. More than 20,000 votes were cast and nearly 700 towns nominated for the five categories, which include Most Beautiful, Friendliest, Most Fun, Best for Food, and Most Patriotic.

The top 30 finalist towns were determined by a combination of public appeal and analysis of reviews and photos by the judges. Towns have rallied on www.bestoftheroad.com, Twitter, and Facebook to promote their communities, businesses and attractions. Passionate responses accounted for a high volume of votes which edged towns to the head of their class in the five categories.

Watertown will compete against Deland, FL, Mandan, ND, Enterprise, AL, Duluth, GA, and Gainesville, TX for Most Patriotic.  Five teams of intrepid travelers will depart from Washington D.C. on June 15 en route to Seattle, Washington to seek out the best in each category. Their experiences and reviews will determine which towns are declared the Best of the Road.

Best of the Road judges will announce the winning towns at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention on July 16. The top towns will be highlighted on www.bestoftheroad.com and in the 2014 Rand McNally Road Atlas, as well as on USA TODAY's Travel site.

Check out the complete list of nominated towns, and click on Watertown, below, to take you to Watertown's page on the Best of the Road site.

Most Beautiful

•             Jim Thorpe, PA

•             Danville, KY

•             Bardstown, KY

•             Tybee Island, GA

•             Sedona, AZ

•             Baker City, OR

Most Patriotic

•             Watertown, NY

•             Deland, FL

•             Enterprise, AL

•             Duluth, GA

•             Gainesville, TX

•             Mandan, ND

Friendliest

•             Murray, KY

•             Joplin, MO*

•             Frisco, TX*

•             College Station, TX

•             Cloudcroft, NM

•             San Luis Obispo, CA

Most Fun

•             Corning, NY

•             Geneva-on-the-Lake, OH

•             Santa Claus, IN

•             Delray Beach, FL

•             Denton, TX

•             Buena Park, CA

Best for Food

•             Lewiston, NY

•             Charlottesville, VA

•             Bloomington, IN

•             Burnsville, MN

•             Santa Fe, NM

•             Walla Walla, WA