Santa Claus in running for award

SANTA CLAUS, Ind. (WISH) - For the second year in a row, Santa Claus, Ind. is a finalist for the "most fun" small town in America. The town in Spencer County, home to Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, was chosen out of 650 destinations to compete in the 2012 Best of the Road Rally.

The contest will consist of five teams traveling across the nation to visit six towns in an assigned category such as most beautiful, most patriotic, friendliest, most fun and best food to help decide which towns should be labeled as the "most fun" towns. The amateur travelers will begin their journey on June 15 and go until July 15.

"It's an honor for the town to be a finalist again in the Best of the Road Rally," said Melissa Brockman, executive director of the Spencer County Visitors Bureau, in a news release.

A panel of travel experts and Road Rally participants will be the ones judging the towns, and this will be based on the reviews posted on BestOfTheRoad.com . Social participation on both Facebook and Twitter will enhance the town's chances of winning as well.

The journeys will be tracked on the Rand McNally website as well as on USA Today's Travel site . The winning towns will be announced on July 16.