It wasn't a blow-out by any means, but after losing the first round for the Pepsi Refresh Project grant, The Historical Society serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown is back in the running for a new $50,000 grant.

"They sent us an email because we came so close last time they automatically put us back in to get the $50,000 grant," curator Sara Mascia said.

To win the grant, the Historical Society must place in the top ten of over 300 potential Arts and Culture projects also vying for $50,000. Rankings are based purely on voter participation – currently the society is ranked just below 100.

The $50,000 would go a long way, Mascia said, especially after the society was awarded a $7,100 Heritage Preservation grant last month. That grant will be used to assess the refurbishment needs of the 1848 Jacob Odell House that is home to the Historical Society.

"If you look really close, you can see the building needs a lot of love," she said.

Once the needs are assessed, a $50,000 grant would allow the keepers of local history to bring their rickety building back to top-notch condition.

"This would fit in with the next step perfectly," she said. "We just need to get people voting."

In the last round, people from across the country tried to vote the Historical Society to success; Mascia was even contacted by people in California who voted for the cause.

"We've had a lot of people voting and it's actually kind of fun how it's gone full circle," she said. "Hopefully there is a lot of buzz out there."

She noted that the Historical Society lost out to projects last month that had a lot of community and school support; where people were determined to "push the button every day." She hopes that locals in the area will be persuaded to do the same.

Voting is open to everyone at the following link http://pep.si/a56CbZ.  Visitors will be asked to register and then they can vote. You can cast your vote once a day until the end of the month.