Flagstaff, Arizona, defeated Pagosa Springs in Outside Magazine’s online contest to decide the “Best Town in America” and has advanced to the final eight.
The vote was close, with Flagstaff earning 14,117 votes (50.96 percent of the total) and Pagosa Springs getting 13,586 votes.
The voting for round three began Thursday and ended Monday.
Each round lasts five days. Beginning on Tuesday, Flagstaff is in the final of the West bracket against Port Angeles, Washington. Port Angeles knocked off the other Colorado city in the bracket, Glenwood Springs, by a vote total of 10,646 to 10,358.
Pagosa had a tough challenge. The Southwest Colorado town of 1,727 was a bit outgunned by its Arizona neighbor, whose population is 68,667.
But in the second round, Pagosa managed to defeat Santa Fe, whose population (69,976) is nearly identical to Flagstaff’s.
The other six towns still in the running are Middlebury, Vermont, vs. Bar Harbor, Maine, in the East; Spearfish, South Dakota, vs. Eau Clarie, Wisconsin, in the Midwest; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, vs. Boone, North Carolina, in the South.