Saturday's Horton Hears a Who Hometown Challenge was held in several communities across the U..S., with the title of loudest "Who-Ville" going to Huntsville, Ala.

Communities competing in the challenge ranged in size from small towns like Halls (population 2,291) and Springfield, Ky. (population 2,634) to Philadelphia and New York City, cities ranked No. 6 and No. 1 in the nation for their population.

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Although 20th Century Fox Publicity and Promotions liaison Andrew Ly said that the company is not releasing the number of communities that participated in the event or the decibel levels recorded, Halls Mayor Trent McManus was told that his town finished second, in front of New York City.

"I think Halls did real well," said McManus. "I was told that it was real close between the top three and that we were in the top three. I was told we finished ahead of NYC. But they wouldn't tell us specifically what the numbers were."

The Huntsville city Web site posted a news release stating that the town beat 11 cities to earn the title of loudest Who-Ville. Four sneak-peak screenings will be held for participating Huntsville residents throughout the day on Thursday.

According to the 2000 US Census, Huntsville's population is 158,216.

USA Today's Web site, where the winning results were posted on Wednesday, announced that "one-quarter of the town (of Halls) fought the 5-degree weather and showed up to be heard."

"I'm proud of us," said McManus. "I am going to enter the town in more contests. If there is one thing I think this contest definitely proved, it's that we can compete. That is one thing I want the people of Halls to learn from this. That we, as a small town, can really outdo some larger towns."

Locations listed on the Web site and in Huntsville's press release that participated in the challenge include New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa.; Blue Springs, Mo.,; Fresno, Calif.; West Orange, N.J.,; Decatur, Ga.: Sugarland, Texas; Jefferson City, Mo., 39,274 and Galveston, Texas.