Saturday, July 2, 2011

Village puts the kettle on for Rand McNally Best of the Road team













The Rand McNally/USA Today Best of the Road Rally 2011 put Yellow Springs, OH, on the map, literally, when the town threw in its felted hat to compete for the category of "Most Fun Town."

On June 23, 2011, five two-person teams set out from New York to visit 30 Best Small Towns of America and determine Most Patriotic, Best Food, Most Beautiful, Friendliest and Most Fun.

Yellow Springers young and old came together to plan, schedule, and decorate the town in preparation for our visiting dignitaries, Juliana and Joan Broste of Littleton, Colo. The mother-daughter judging team arrived Tuesday, June 28, along with a fully-loaded RV and media crew.

I was particularly impressed by the way the Rand McNally media crew threw themselves into the fun including spending time learning about yarnbombing with Jafagirls ("Just Another Flippin' Artist") Nancy Mellon and Corrine Bayraktaroglu and a full table of Flower Power participants at Brother Bear's Coffeehouse. Even their driver, Bob, got into the act!

Follow the adventures of all the traveling teams as they cross the country on a mission. Click here to read the team blogs and watch their videos.

photos by Susan Gartner -- Tuesday, June 28, 2011