St. John moves to top 25; voting still on

"We are crazy outliner," said Jessiann Loomis.

The odds were not in St. John’s favor.

When St. John entered the America’s Main Streets contest in March to vie for a $25,000 grand prize for its main street (Front Street), it was a month behind the rest of the competition, with the voting having started in February. With just a few weeks left in the competition, St. John was up against 241 other communities and was one of the smallest on the list.

“You look at the math, you look at the populous, and you think there’s no way,” said Amanda Webb, one of the spear headers behind getting St. John int...