Tybee Island showing off its beauty

As one of six finalists in the "Most Beautiful Small Town" category of the Rand McNally and USA Today Best of the Road 2012 Rally, Tybee Island has an opportunity to add to its list of recent accolades.

Under a slow, steady drizzle Tuesday morning, about 25 people gave Dusty and Nikki Green a warm reception in front of the welcome sign.

The Greens will spend the next couple of days on Tybee Island as part of the contest. They are the beauty judges - the rally has five categories - and said this rally brings significant publicity to communities.

"We think the Best of the Road Program is so wonderful for these small towns," Nikki Green said. "It's a great program because it's putting small towns back on the map."

The categories include most beautiful, most patriotic, friendliest, most fun and best for food.

Tybee is competing against Jim Thorpe, Pa., Danville, Ky., Bardstown, Ky., Sedona, Ariz., and Baker City, Ore.

Lindsay Fruchtl, marketing director for the Tybee Island Tourism Council, said the city spent quite a bit of time and effort preparing for the Greens' arrival.

"When you have any VIP coming to the island, it takes a lot of coordination," Fruchtl said. "This one especially, because it involves the whole town coming together and welcoming them, and trying to present ourselves in the best light so that they can enjoy the island as much as possible."

Sandpoint, Idaho won the Most Beautiful Small Town award in the inaugural rally last year.

Dusty Green said they apply different criteria to the different communities.

"All of the towns are so unique, and so different," he said. "I think it would be unfair to come in with a standard list of things we're looking for. We're judging each town on its individual merits, everything that it offers in terms of its beauty, people, sense of community. Those are the things that we'll be looking for from everybody.

"We're judging the beauty category, and each town is beautiful in its own way."

For Tybee Island to place well in the Greens' minds, Nikki Green said Tybee Island and its people must be aesthetically pleasing.

"We're looking for outside beauty, also inside beauty," she said. "We want to see what the people are like, you know, what the town has to offer. We're looking both ways - inside and outside."

Dusty Green said the fact that Tybee Island earned a nomination reaps many benefits, due to the exposure.

"Clearly, the town that wins will get an extra level of exposure, which is invaluable," Dusty Green said. "Our feeling is, just to be included, everybody's won already."

Dusty Green said he and Nikki will present to the "real judges" once their trip concludes. In the meantime, Dusty said he eagerly awaits time to relax.

"We're looking forward to just taking it easy on the island, and meeting all the people," he said. "We hear great things about the people. And soaking in all of the beauty, and living life on island time for a couple of days."

Nikki Green said the winning town will be announced July 15. The winner will be featured on the Travel Channel on July 25. If Tybee Island wins, it adds to a recent accolade from AOL as a Top 10 City Beach in America and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution saying it's a "Best One Tank Trip."