AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – Amarillo’s Route 66 Historic District water tower was named as a top 12 finalist for the 2023 Tank of the Year competition sponsored by Tnemec Company, according to a release. This comes after the water storage tank, which overlooks the Route 66 Historic District in Amarillo, was repainted earlier in the year and stood as a centerpiece for the city’s first Texas Route 66 Festival in June.

“Overall, our team at Tnemec was blown away not only by the number of entries in this year’s Tank of the Year contest but also by all of the innovative and creative designs in this year’s pool of candidate tanks,” explained Brian Cheshire, Director of the Water Tank Market. “The tanks in this year’s contest highlighted the hometown pride and overall ingenuity from many towns all across the United States and Canada.”

Other water tanks among the top 12 finalists for the 2023 competition included entries from Ohio, New Mexico, Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Indiana, South Dakota, and Tennessee. More than 320 water tanks were nominated with a record of more than 46,000 online “People’s Choice” votes cast across the US and Canada, said the company. The Tank of the Year winner, according to organizers, is selected each year by a panel of enthusiasts based on criteria such as artistic value, the significance of the tank to the community, and challenges encountered during the project.

“Since 2006, Tnemec has been recognizing municipalities for their aesthetic, creative, and innovative uses of our high-performance coatings on water storage tank projects,” Cheshire added. “This year’s finalists represent several different types of water tanks in various shapes and sizes, all of them impressive for one reason or another.”

The winner of 2023’s Tank of the Year competition, said organizers, was the entry from Bryan, Ohio, a tank displaying multiple 65-foot Dum-Dums representing Spangler Candy Company’s most popular lollipop flavors.

While the Amarillo Route 66 water tower was not the top winner, the company noted that the finalists and nominees will all be included in the upcoming Tank of the Year Calendar. More information about the calendar can be found online here.