There was a flurry of excitement when Amazon announced in September that it was planning to open a new headquarters. Dubbed HQ2, the company said that it planned to invest more than $5 billion towards the construction and growth of the new campus, which would house an anticipated 50,000 new employees.

When you account for Amazon’s impact on its homebase — in a press release about the new HQ, the company said that from 2010 to 2016 it invested $38 billion into Seattle’s economy — it’s no surprise that nearly as soon as the news was released that the race was on. Reportedly, Amazon got more than 200 bids on the project.

Many tried to see if they could convince Amazon that the company should choose them, throwing a hat in the ring in some fairly inventive ways. But for all their enthusiasm, the field has been considerably narrowed.

Amazon shared this week that it had settled on a group of 20 finalists, including Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Md.; Nashville; Newark; New York; Northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, N.C.; Toronto and Washington, D.C.

But we want to take moment, as progress marches on, to shout out the cities that tried, and failed, to capture the tech giant’s attention. Because there is still glory in the attempt.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/307707