Forest Park and the Missouri Botanical Garden—two of the best places in St. Louis to spend a beautiful outdoor day—are poised to receive some well-deserved national recognition.
Both are finalists for the USA Today‘s 10Best Readers’ Choice travel awards, a national contest that pits 20 top attractions, selected by panels of experts, against each other for an online poll. Readers choose the winner by casting their votes—one allowed per day—to determine who deserves to be called the best.
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See also: Orchid Show Returns to the Missouri Botanical Garden
The winner gets more than just bragging rights. The lists rank among the top ten most-visited travel information sites in North America, according to USA Today, giving the St. Louis attractions a fresh round of exposure to travelers planning their next trips.
Supporters can vote once per day through Monday, March 28, at 11 a.m. Forest Park is nominated in the Best City Park category, and you’ll find MoBOT under Best Botanical Garden.
So far, St. Louis has a strong showing. Forest Park ranked No. 1 until it was recently dethroned by Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. And the botanical garden is up to No. 4 from its previous posting at No. 5, ranked behind gardens in Virginia, Michigan, and Maine.
Here’s how the poll describes Forest Park:
Located in the heart of St. Louis, Forest Park encompasses nearly 1,400 acres of land. It is one of the largest urban parks in the United States, nearly a third larger than New York City’s Central Park. The St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Science Center and Planetarium, History Museum, Zoo, Jewel Box and Muny Theater are a few of the many attractions located on the grounds. The park is widely used for outdoor recreation and features bicycle paths, jogging trails, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, boating and skating.
And here’s how the poll describes the Missouri Botanical Garden:
Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation’s oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a registered National Historic Landmark. Its 79 acres of garden spaces include a 14-acre Japanese strolling garden, one of the world’s most extensive collections of rare and endangered orchids and a scented garden for the visually impaired.
Don’t forget to vote!
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at [email protected] or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
