Cocoa water tower up for tank of the year
The City of Cocoa is abuzz in a campaign to get people to vote.
But this election is not for a municipal office or even a referendum. It's for the title "Tank of the Year."
Cocoa is pushing to get people to vote for its landmark water tower near the intersection of U.S.1 and State Road 520.
"If we could win that honor we'd have bragging rights," Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish IIIsaid. "It's a big deal. We want to be able to brag the we have the best water tower in America. It makes all of Brevard look good."
The contest promoted by Tnemec, a Kansas City manufacturer of industrial coating systems has gained a following from people around the country.
Cocoa's tower faces some stiff competition. While many of the towers just feature a city name or reference to a local sports team, others are quite elaborate. Plant City's is painted to look like a giant strawberry, while Gaffney, South Carolina's tower resembles a peach. The tower in Mt. Jackson, Virginia is a giant still life of a bowl of fruit. Zebulan, North Carolina honors its local minor league baseball team with a tower that looks like a baseball and features the Mudcat's logo.
Cocoa unveils water tower's new American flags
Cocoa might appeal to voters with a patriotic bent, though: It's the only one featuring giant American flags.
When you come across that bridge and the first thing you see is that tower with its flag, that's patriotic," said Travis "Mac" Osborne, an owner of S.F. Travis Hardware in Cocoa. "It's a matter of pride. Cocoa has allways taken pride in their water tower."
An $810,000 refurbishing job that took nearly a year to complete left the tower poised for the competition. The 1.5 million-gallon, 156-foot tall tower, built in 1957, was recently refurbished and the its Stars and Stripes repainted.
Parrish said he will use whatever means he could to urge Cocoa and Brevard residents to vote for Cocoa's water tower. Voting ends 5 p.m. Friday.
"We got notified kind of late," he said. "It's an honor to be part of this."
Contact Moody at 321-242-3651 or nmoody@floridatoday Follow on Twitter @RNormanMoody or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMoody
How to vote
The website to vote is tankoftheyear.tnemec.com