Pictured: Pita Pete, the Mammoth Pita Pit mascot./

So I get a call this week from some social media marketing guy who tells me he’s got a story for me – that Mammoth’s Pita Pit has reached the final 64 in a nationwide contest (being run on Facebook) to determine the most popular Pita Pit franchise in America.

“This is just huge news,” I replied, half-listening, folding laundry.

“You bet,” the kid replied. And he proceeded to tell me a lot more stuff I couldn’t care less about.

“Do you mind if I just call Doug instead [Mammoth Pita Pit Owner Doug Hanna]?” I asked.

So this is what Doug said:

Your local Mammoth Pita Pit has recently been voted into the top 64 favorite Pita Pits out of 244 locations in Battle of the Pita Pits found on Facebook’s “Pita Pit Fan Page.” Here people can vote once every 24 hours for their favorite pit. The competition field will be cut in half every week until the favorite US Pita Pit is determined.

If Mammoth Pita Pit wins, we will be giving out free pitas for an entire day (7am-2am).

Voting is an easy and effective way to bring awareness to the Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Mountain. Pita Pit Fan Page has 30,532 likes and as long as we are at the top, people will see MAMMOTH!

To avoid confusion, note that there are two facebook pages of interest: “Mammoth Pita Pit” which is our local fan page and “Pita Pit Fan Page” which is the national page where you can vote.

Sheet: So what place are you in this week?

Hanna: We’re #18.

Sheet: How many votes do you have?

Hanna: 22

Sheet: 22?

Hanna: This illustrates the absolute complacency of every other store.

Sheet: Given that folks can vote once a day, does that mean 7 of those votes are yours?

Hanna: That would be correct.

So here you go, Mammoth. This clearly is a competition we can hijack and win. The leader in the voting for this week has just 350 votes – illustrating the awesome power and influence of social media.

Voting for each successive round reboots on Fridays. Given the current standings, it looks like Mammoth will be in the final 32.

Ed. note: I just had the entire office vote, Doug. You’re now up to 25!