The gauntlet - in this case a cap - has been thrown down in a friendly competition between the mayors of Jamestown and Valley City to see which community can have the best response rate during the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census.
The mayor of the community with the lowest percentage of people who voluntarily return the census questionnaire will have to wear a cap promoting the other community during a televised City Council meeting later this summer.
The Census Bureau will begin releasing the percentage of people who are filling out and returning the census forms in late March on a weekly basis, and the winner of the wager between Jamestown Mayor Dwaine Heinrich and Valley City Mayor Dave Carlsrud will be announced in July.
"It's a friendly competition," Heinrich said. "Dave I have agreed to do it again in 10 years."