St. Thomas Celebrates Town of the Year Victory

They played trivia and were presented an award

ST. THOMAS, N.D. — This evening the St. Thomas community gathered at the fire house for dinner and a live weather broadcast of our 6 o’clock news.

KVRR reporter Danielle Church talked to people there to find out what Town of the Year means to them.

There’s a certain spirit in St. Thomas you can’t shake.

“Living in Duluth, we lived in a big city. You go to the store and every time you went to that same store, you hardly recognize anyone there. whereas here, you’re driving down the street, you see someone, you wave and everyone knows each other,” said Jordan and Robin Miller.

Now the giant family that is St. Thomas is celebrating a hard earned, Town of the Year victory. But they still aren’t over the shock of it all.

“It’s amazing. I mean a ton of people voted I couldn’t believe how many there were. And just the amount of communication between everyone saying ‘get out there and support our community and the amount of people that came,” the Millers said.

All those who came got to see history being made in the town, with the presentation of their first-ever KVRR Town of the Year Plaque. But community members say it wouldn’t have been possible so take home the award without all those who moved away but still cast their votes.

“It’s a great feeling and if we ever need help with something, everybody bans together to help out. Everybody looks out for each other,” the Millers said.

Maybe not while they were all competing against each other in trivia but when it comes to anything else, but at this party, it’s more than just winning a competition.

“I just wanted to come to support the community, be together and celebrate,” the Millers said.

There can only be one Town of the Year every 365 days, but some in St. Thomas say they can’t wait to see who takes the title home next year. It’s also why they have some words of wisdom for all the small towns in North Dakota and Minnesota.

“All these small communities have the same type of closeness and support so be supportive, stay close, remind people to vote,” the Millers said.

Community members in St. Thomas also took the party as an opportunity to give back and collect cans for their local food pantry.