2 weeks left to vote for Fitton Center in ‘Best Restroom’ contest

FINALISTS: AMERICA’S BEST RESTROOM CONTEST

HOW TO VOTE

Voting is open through Oct. 31. Click here to vote

The city of Sculpture and home to the world’s best tasting water may add another title to its marquee – best restroom in America.

That’s because the Fitton Center for Creative Arts has been named a finalist in Cintas Corporation’s America’s Best Restroom contest.

For the past 14 years, the Mason-based company has put on a beauty contest to see what organization can come up with the most creative public restroom.

Hamilton’s Fitton Center has made the cut and is one of the top 10 finalists in this year’s contest to see who will be “King of the Throne” so to speak.

The Fitton Center partnered with Cincinnati artist Jan Brown Checco to create the ceramic design in the center’s first floor men’s and women’s restrooms, said Executive Director Ian MacKenzie-Thurley. The restrooms even have a potty-pleasing name – Nature Calls.

Hamilton resident Cindy Dingeldein was the interior designer for the restrooms.

The unique bathrooms are just one of the experiences tied to the Fitton Center’s mission of wanting patrons to “expect the unexpected,” according to MacKenzie-Thurley.

Nature Calls is a whimsical look at “our relationship to water and the earth and reminds us of our important participation in, and conservation of, these ecosystems,” he said.

The restrooms include tiles made by students in the center’s pottery classes, staff and other community members.

The women’s restroom has flowers and rainbows and Mother Nature’s face. Gentlemen may be a bit surprised to see Green Man staring at them.

“He’s the embodiment of the earth’s greening … he’s the source of pure water, a nod to Hamilton’s Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer,” MacKenzie-Thurley said.

So far, the reaction to Green Man and the restroom in general have been a hit.

“The responses from patrons, donors, sponsors and the Hamilton public have been absolutely outstanding,” MacKenzie-Thurley said. “So much so, that every tour of the Fitton Center begins with the restrooms.”

Last year, Philadelphia’s Longwood Gardens took home first place in the contest.

In 2007, Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield took home the title.

This year Fitton will be up against some stiff competition from around the country that will be gunning for the $2,500 Cintas credit for cleaning supplies and title of America’s Best Restroom.

Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park is also among the contest’s finalists. Play areas, kitchen amenities and a deal with Pampers helps lighten the load for hit families who hit the restroom with their babies or young children at the ballpark.

Also included in the running are:

Charleston Distilling in Charleston, S.C., whose two bathrooms are designed as giant whiskey barrels.

The Music Hall in Portsmouth, N.H., has created an “Alice in Wonderland” and Harry Potter motif for those who enjoy thinking about fantasy lands or forests while using the bathroom.

At the Salty Pig in Boston, Mass., Far Side comic strips are plastered on restroom walls for some comic relief.

Public restrooms in the old mining town of Minturn, Colo., make visitors feel like they are entering a Rocky Mountain mine.

Voting is underway at www.bestrestroom.com until Oct. 31. A virtual tour of each restroom is also available on the website.

The winner will be announced by Cintas later in the year and will be included in the company’s “Restroom Hall of Fame.”