It may be warm outside, but Beaufort is sure cool

It was a sunny, nearly 70-degree day, but all was cool Wednesday in the Town of Beaufort.

Beaufort won the title of America’s Coolest Small Town following a month-long, neck-and-neck race in an online contest by Budget Travel Magazine.

Never mind that the town will share the title with Hammondsport, N.Y.

Beaufort supporters knew the clear winner.

“I definitely think (Beaufort) deserves it. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” said Christina Hardin, an employee at Cru Wine Bar and Coffee Shop.

Hardin said the contest generated a lot of interest and support and there was a bit of anxiousness Wednesday morning as people waited on the contest results.

She wasn’t alone in casting her votes for Beaufort.

“I voted. Everybody did,” she said.

In fact, so many votes were cast in the final hours of the online contest, which ended Tuesday, that the high volume of traffic crashed the budgettravel.com website.

The race between Beaufort and Hammondsport was close throughout much of the contest and in the final days supporters of the two towns battled it out with their daily votes. There were lead changes and a few ties. And as the contest neared an end the difference in the standings stayed at less than 1 percent.

“Needless to say, it’s the closest (contest) we’ve ever had,” Budget Travel Editor Marc Peyser said in a phone interview.

More than 360,000 votes were cast, with Beaufort and Hammondsport receiving 36.2 percent and 36 percent of the votes, respectively. Weaverville, Calif., followed in third place with 13 percent of the vote.

Peyser said that the website was programmed to cut off voting at midnight on Jan. 31 and declare a winner, which it did. And while Beaufort had a slight lead as voting closed, that didn’t account for all the voters who were locked out when the website crashed.

“It’s impossible to know how many people tried to vote and couldn’t,” Peyser said.

With the race so close it was impossible to say which town would have won with all things equal, so the folks at Budget Travel declared a tie.

Beaufort Mayor Richard Stanley wasn’t completely surprised by the news of the tie. He was one of the ones who found the website overwhelmed when he tried to cast his final vote Tuesday night.

That didn’t make him any less excited to call Beaufort America’s Coolest Small Town, and he planned to have a banner made to hang in front of town hall. The Town of Beaufort will also hold a celebration of the designation on Friday at 4 p.m. in front of Town Hall at 701 Front St.

He thanked everyone for the widespread support for Beaufort during the contest, from the local community and beyond.

“This just shows the level of support for Beaufort,” he said. “I’m amazed by the support from the Tourism Development Authority, from the chamber of commerce, from the Beaufort Historical Association, from everyone. They sent out emails, posted on websites and social networks. It’s amazing the amount of good will. We thank everyone.”

Stanley also congratulated Hammondsport on the shared titled.

“I’ve heard good things about it. If it’s as pretty as Beaufort, they have a lot to be thankful for,” the mayor said.

Budget Travel noted that social media networking played a big part in this year’s contest as supporters of the finalists encouraged people to vote.

Budget Travel’s Coolest Small Towns page received more than 70,000 likes on Facebook and was Tweeted more than 3,300 times, including a Tweet by best-selling author Nicholas Sparks of New Bern, who showed his support for Beaufort. Two of his books — “A Walk to Remember” and “The Choice” — are set in the coastal town.

Peyser said this is the seventh year of the contest during which Budget Travel readers are invited to nominate their favorite small town. Nearly 650 towns were nominated and Budget Travel staff narrowed the list to 10 finalists. Peyser said the towns had to have a population of less than 10,000 and stand out as a destination with that something special that makes it a place people will want to visit.

Hardin said that’s Beaufort.

“We have everything here, from gourmet restaurants to hot dog joints and everything in between,” she said.

During the contest, descriptions and photographs of each finalist were posted, and Beaufort was noted for its coastal views, rich history and a maritime past that includes notable buccaneers like Blackbeard the pirate and his flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which ran aground off Beaufort nearly 300 years ago.

The Crystal Coast Tourism Development Authority posted a video of the wild horses at Shackleford Banks.