Why is Traverse City, Michigan ahead of Decorah in the Midwest Living magazine on-line contest for "Greatest Midwest Town?"

Running up the dunes in Traverse City, Michigan (Photo courtesy of Traverse City CCVB)

(by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott):

Unfortunately, Traverse City, Michigan sounds like a wonderful place!

In case you haven't heard, Midwest Living magazine is conducting an on-line vote to name the "Greatest Midwest Town."  The contest runs through February 29th, with voting allowed once each day.

Through mid-day Wednesday, Decorah had 13,177 votes.  That number absolutely smoked Medora, North Dakota, which had only 438 votes.  I know, you're thinking to yourself, "But that's North Dakota--what about some of the biggest tourist destinations in the Midwest?"

As of mid-day Wednesday, Bayfield, Wisconsin had 1,052 votes, Branson, Missouri had 1,321 votes and Galena, Illinois had 2,097 votes.

12 communities have been selected by Midwest Living for this contest, one for each state in the Midwest.  Seven of them have less than 3,000 votes.  Ten of them have less than 5,000 votes.  Decorah has 13,177 votes and Traverse City, Michigan has 13,932 votes.

So I just had to find out what makes Traverse City such a great place (although not as great as Decorah, I would hasten to point out!).  Mike Norton, the Communications Director at the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau, took my phone call.

"It's snowing so hard here, I can't see across the harbor," he told me.  Aha!  Apparently Traverse City is a barren wasteland in the winter!  Actually, Mike told me, "silent sports" such as cross country skiing, showshoeing and fat tire biking are very popular in Traverse City in the winter.  The area promotes itself as a "four season destination."

My attempt to find incriminating evidence against Traverse City wasn't going well!  I asked Mike, "What else draws people to Traverse City?"  "We're the Cherry Capitol of the country," he told me.  "I thought that was Door County," I answered.  "They're rivals, but we think our cherries are the best," he answered.

"Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is probably our premiere draw," Mike said.  People flock to the dunes during the summer.  There's even a "Dune Climb."

Mike also told me locally-produced beer and wine has "come on quickly in the last decade" in Traverse City.  There are numerous local wineries and 17 microbreweries, brewpubs and craft brew taprooms.

By now, I was depressed!  My mission to "dig up some dirt" on Traverse City, Michigan was a total failure.  I felt like I needed a beer.  Fortunately, Traverse City isn't the only town with microbreweries!

(For more information about Traverse City, Michigan, visit http://www.traversecity.com/.

(To vote in the Midwest Living magazine's "Greatest Midwest Town" contest--for Decorah, of course--visit http://www.midwestliving.com/vote/)