Nate Spangle with Get Indiana.
NASHVILLE
Wins Again!
~ by Boris Ladwig
Nashville has won the Small Town Showdown for the second consecutive year.
The competition, organized by the Get Indiana Media Company, pitted 64 small towns against one another in bracket-style, modeled after and taking place at the same time as the NCAA men’ s basketball tournament.
Voting took place online, with matchups decided by popular vote as towns advanced through each round.
Nashville won last year’ s inaugural tournament against Greensburg, and both small towns made it to the final again this year, with Nashville once again beating its Decatur County rival, most famous for the tree growing out of the courthouse roof.
Nashville, the No. 1 seed in the South, one of four regions, beat Odon in the first round and Washington in the second before getting past Jasper and Santa Claus to reach the Final Four. Nashville beat Monticello to get to the final, while Greensburg got past Greencastle to set up a repeat of last year’ s final.
Nate Spangle, a Hoosier and the founder of Get Indiana, said he came up with the idea of the tournament because it aligned with the company’ s
vision, to highlight the best of Indiana, from road trips to drive-in theaters and ice cream.
Get Indiana presents the state’ s highlights on its website, a newsletter and a podcast. The company gets most of its revenue from sponsorships. The company’ s website recently featured articles on the Heidelberg Haus Cafe & Bakery and White Barn Antiques in Cloverdale.
Spangle said he was a bit surprised at Nashville’ s repeat.“ They had a few very close encounters,” he said. In all, this year’ s contest drew more than
150,000 votes through the tournament.
As last year, the showdown’ s winner will get a visit from Spangle and his crew, which will open a $ 1,000 bar tab for all attendees. Details have yet to be determined, but Spangle said the event will take place sometime this summer.
Spangle has said that he has enjoyed the diversity of what the town has to offer and loves running in Brown County State Park.
“ I’ m not upset about Nashville winning,” he said.“ I always have a great time down there.”
You can follow Spangle on Instagram at @ natespangle and visit getindiana. com to learn more about what makes the Hoosier state great. •
48 Our Brown County May / June 2026