FORT SMITH — The Fort Smith of Isaac C. Parker and Bass Reeves was first on True West Magazine’s list of the Top Ten True West Towns of the Year for 2013, the Fort Smith Advertising and Promotion Commission announced Wednesday.

Maintaining the secret for the past five weeks at the request of the magazine, commission Executive Director Claude Legris kept the standing-room-only crowd at the commission’s visitor center in suspense until the last moment.

“Fort Smith is just a little ahead of ... the number two town,” he said.

The other towns that made the list, starting with second place, were Dodge City, Kan.; Wilcox, Ariz.; Canyon, Texas; Durango, Colo.; Las Vegas, N.M.; Pinedale, Wyo.; Del Norte, Colo.; Kaycee, Wyo.; and Scottsdale, Ariz.

“The ghosts of the Old West still walk the streets of Fort Smith,” True West Executive Editor Bob Boze Bell said in a news release. “Thanks to the efforts of the local residents, the old haunts still live. Fort Smith is truly the Top Western Town.”

The competition winners and a story about Fort Smith will be in the February issue of the magazine that hits the newsstands Jan. 1, Legris said.

After being designated a “town to watch” in last year’s competition, Legris said the decision was made to make a major effort in this year’s contest. He said a small army of local historians was assembled and given assignments to complete the extensive application to show, according to the magazine, “notable efforts to preserve and maintain our Old West heritage.”

“Look at the criteria and the information we submitted,” Legris said. “How canwe not be on the list?”

The application included information not only about the Fort Smith National Historic Site and the Fort Smith Museum of History but a long list of historic features including Miss Laura’s Visitors Center, the Clayton House, Belle Grove Historic District, the Darby House, Fort Chaffee Museum District, the Fort Smith National Cemetery and the designation of Fort Smith as the home of the U.S. Marshals Museum.

Projects completed this year that also were included in the application were the erection of the statue of famed Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves in the downtown Pendergraft Park and the placement of 12 bronze plaques in the downtown area with Quick Response codes enabling people with smart phones to view short videos about the plaques’ historic subjects.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, who also serves as chairman of the Advertising and Promotion Commission, said the award was an example of what Fort Smith residents can achieve for the community.

“Fort Smith has a great future as well as a marvelous past,” he said.

U.S. Marshals Service historian David Turk called the 60-year-old True West one of the best sources for travel and tourism for fans of the Old West and one of the best western history magazines, according to a news release from the A&P commission.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/13/2012