Missouri Humanities Small Town Showcase was a contest held this summer. Each year, communities with populations under 10,000 are nominated and voted on by Missourians to become the annual “Featured Five” communities. The organization’s contest focuses on the uniqueness of rural Missouri, showcasing the bigger picture of what Small Town America really is, and why it shouldn’t be overlooked, overshadowed, or underappreciated. Each of the five towns will work with Missouri Humanities on the following:

• A short video about their community

• An hour-long podcast, roundtable-style

• A feature in the bi-annual publication, MoHumanities

• A highlight reel, featuring all five communities, to be shown during the Missouri Humanities’ annual gala   

Several citizens of the city of Tarkio submitted an online form about the history of Tarkio, what makes Tarkio special or stand out, named a person who had been a huge part of making Tarkio a success, and outstanding things about the town. On June 17, Tarkio was one of 35 communities that had been selected to have the chance to become one of the “Featured Five.” Voting began July 1 and went to 5:00 p.m. on October 1. Voting started out slow in the first two weeks, but then the citizens and supporters of Tarkio really did shine by spreading the word to vote. Tarkio Parks and Rec Facebook page kept the community updated with tallies:

• August 1, Tarkio was in first place with 1,923 votes.

• August 14, Tarkio remained in first place with 3,168 votes.

• August 20, Tarkio moved to second place with 3,497 votes.

• August 30, Tarkio remained in second place with 4,436 votes.

• September 9, Tarkio moved back into first place with 12,300 votes.

• September 15, Tarkio re-mained in first place with 18,553 votes and at that time had 41.9% of all votes.

• September 26, Tarkio continued in first place with 28,102 votes, with the next town having 10,483 (Tarkio was ahead by 17,619 votes).

• September 30, with 24 hours left in the contest, Tarkio moved into second place with 31,486 votes. Tarkio was behind the lead by 5,311 votes. That was the last numerical update.

However, everyone stepped up to the plate and on October 4, it was announced that Tarkio was the overall winner in the showcase.