Following the first round of online balloting late last year, Mathews County will be one of 15 finalists in the 2014 America’s Coolest Small Towns contest, sponsored by Budget Travel.

According to Mathews Visitor and Information Center director Ann Miller, Mathews will be up against small towns across the country that received the highest number of votes from a contest conducted on Budget Travel’s website last fall. Online voting in this final phase began Wednesday.

“We’re really excited,” Miller said. “We’re not there yet, but we’re getting close!”

Mathews drew the fourth-highest total of votes during the initial phase of the contest, falling just behind Buckhannon, W.Va., Travelers Rest, S.C., and Berlin, Md.

View the video that was submitted to Budget Travel:

Miller said she was contacted last Monday morning by the company, notifying her that Mathews wa...