Rand McNally Unveils the Winners of the 2013 Best of the Road Program

SKOKIE, IL-- Oct. 8, 2013: The hotly contested Best of the Road 2013 contest has concluded, and six special small towns* have been designated the winners!

After several weeks of online voting at bestoftheroad.com, finalist communities demonstrated to a panel of judges—in words, pictures, and/or video—why they deserved to win the title in their respective categories. The following have been named the best-of-the-best 2013 Small Towns in America:

Most Beautiful: Jefferson City, Mo. Most Fun: Corning, N.Y. Friendliest: Kewanee, Ill. Most Patriotic: Gallup, N.M. Best for Food: San Mateo, Calif. Best for Geocaching: Helena, Mont.

"The Best of the Road program has enabled the small towns along and off our nation's highways and byways to showcase the best they have to offer," said Rebecca Oistad, VP of Digital Strategy & Business Development, Rand McNally. "This year's winners were impressive in terms of the sophistication with which they marketed themselves—including getting their communities engaged in the process—as well in terms of the unique experiences each has to offer. Any of the finalists, and particularly the winners, would be outstanding additions to the family road trip this year!"

The 2013 contest broke all prior records for online participation—including an overall increase is traffic by 45% vs. 2012—engaging over 97,000 individuals, who nominated nearly 1,200 towns!

The winning town in each category will receive a FREE custom online travel guide and iPhone app—the perfect way to promote a town to travelers across America—developed by Rand McNally and powered by Best of the Road.

Finalists and winning towns will be featured in Good Sam Club's Road Trip Planner, an online tool that helps road-trippers organize and plan their trips and the stops along the way. They will also be featured in many of Rand McNally's travel products including RV GPS and the flagship Road Atlas.

Additionally, Helena, Mont., Best for Geocaching, will receive a FREE GeoTour, courtesy of Geocaching.com. Geocachers from around the world will be able to use the Geocaching smartphone app to learn about the town's best places via strategically placed geocaches.

To view the winning town submissions, and to get engaged with the 2014 Best of the Road Contest, visit Best of the Road!

*Small towns for the Best of the Road program are defined using the 2010 U.S. Census definition of "Places" (Towns, Cities, Villages, CDPs, Municipalities, etc.) and having a population of under 150,000.