Rand McNally Team Impressed by History of Williamsburg

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, July 02, 2011

Patrick Henry, as interpreted by Richard Schumann, welcomes the Rally team to Williamsburg.

Chris Staudinger and Tawny Clark are one of five teams competing in Rand McNally’s “Best of the Road Rally,” which sends the teams to visit towns across the United States that are trying to earn titles for their claims-to-fame. The teams will blog about their visits for three weeks until they all arrive in Los Angeles, where one team will win $10,000 for having the best content. In the following week, Rand McNally will announce which towns earned the titles of “Most Beautiful,” “Most Patriotic,” “Friendliest,” “Most Fun” or “Best for Food.”

Staudinger and Clark just returned to the United States after completing a two-year stint of teaching English in Korea. While living in Asia, the couple began filming their travels for a travel website called Tripfilms. When they found out about Rand McNally’s contest, they were preparing to move back to Seattle, but decided to enter the competition just in case.

Williamsburg was the first stop on their journey. On June 25, about 100 people welcomed the pair with a ceremony in Merchants Square, where City Council member Judy Knudson introduced them to the city, saying, “You’re experiencing what we do every day here – telling the story of our nation and keeping it alive and relevant today.” The city worked with the Greater Williamsburg Area Chamber and Tourism Alliance and Colonial Williamsburg to plan a trip that would prove Williamsburg is full of patriots.

During their visit, Staudinger and Clark took a carriage ride around the Historic Area, met Patrick Henry (as interpreted by Richard Schumann), toured the Jamestown Fort dig site with archaeologist Bill Kelso and rang the bell in the Wren Building. It was the first time either of them had visited Williamsburg. “Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Williamsburg,” she said Thursday, after spending a day in Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo.

Staudinger said the highlight of the visit was talking with Patrick Henry, adding he was “a great example of what makes Williamsburg awesome.” Clark, who grew up on the West Coast, said she enjoyed “the deep-rooted history that can be found everywhere in town.”

The couple produced four videos for their Rally blog (watch them all here), showcasing their favorite moments of the trip. They also interviewed people they met about their interpretations of patriotism. “For this contest, we’re really looking for the towns to tell us what patriotism is to them,” Clark said. “So far, it’s been described differently in every town. We really just want to see how each town shows support and patriotism to this country. We don’t want any town to subscribe to our form of patriotism, but stay true to their values and beliefs.”

The couple was clearly impressed with their visit. At the welcome ceremony, Staudinger told the crowd, “You should be proud every day.”