In September 2010 Bear Head Lake State Park was the unlikely winner of the inaugural "America Is Your Park" internet poll. More than 5.7 million votes were tallied in the contest sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company's Live Positively charitable campaign and the National Park Foundation. Users were invited to vote as many times as they liked for any U.S. national, state, or municipal park to receive $100,000 and the title "America's Favorite Park." Over 1.6 million votes were cast for Bear Head Lake, easily besting runner-up Great Smoky Mountains National Park by more than half a million. This was an impressive showing for a park with an annual attendance of about 100,000, not even ranking in Minnesota's top ten state parks for overnight visits.