CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- A magazine covering food culture in the South wants people to weigh in on the best small towns and their culinary scene.

The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau says The Local Palate has nominated Charlottesville for Top Culinary Town in the South.

“We have welcomed visitors from all over the world here to pair our local wine with our delicious cuisine, especially during the past couple of years in which our budget has been bolstered with one-time American Rescue Plan Act funding,” said Courtney Cacatian, executive director of the CACVB. “We’re uniquely positioned as a college town surrounded by farms with locally sourced food, multiple farmers' markets and a wide variety of restaurants and food trucks far beyond most cities our size. This recognition puts Charlottesville and Albemarle County on the culinary map in a big way.” 

Community members can vote through June 16 on a list of the top 10 culinary towns, selected out of more than 40 small towns from across the South by The Local Palate.

The top 10 will be reduced to three finalists that will then go head-to-head in a social media poll between June 17 and 21.

The winner will be announced on Oct. 29.

CACVB says Charlottesville and Albemarle County are known for having a diverse restaurant scene, including many international and immigrant-owned restaurants.

There are also historic locations, food halls, bakeries, cafes, wine shops, farmers’ markets and more.

In previous years, Charlottesville has been listed among the top 25 cities in the United States for the number of restaurants per capita, and just last year, the Monticello American Viticultural Area was picked as the Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast.

The other communities in the running are Alpharetta, Georgia; Auburn, Alabama; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Lafayette, Louisiana; Lexington, Kentucky; Oxford, Mississippi; St. Augustine, Florida; and Wilmington, North Carolina. 

To vote, click here.