Yankee Magazine's New Leaf-Peeping App

AP: Yankee magazine is going mobile with a new app for chasing fall color.

The magazine, which released its annual fall issue Tuesday, is also sponsoring a contest to pick the best foliage town in New England.

Last year, the magazine's editors named Kent, Conn., as the best town in the region for fall color, but this year the public is invited to make the choice by nominating and voting via YankeeFoliage.com. The "Readers' Choice Best Foliage Town in New England" winner will be announced on Sept. 28.

Yankee's new Leaf Peepr app, free and downloadable for iPhones and Droids, lets users check color status by region or zip code, and also offers interactive elements like the ability to upload new reports and photos to YankeeFoliage.com's fall foliage map. Leaf color on the Leaf Peepr app is coded as green, turning, moderate, peak, fading and gone.

The YankeeFoliage.com website also offers more than 30 scenic routes across New England, including 12 new road trips for 2011. There are driving tours for each of the New England states — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont — as well as recommended routes for certain regions such as Moosehead Lake in Maine and Route 100 in Vermont.

Features in the magazine's September/October issue include a look at the Topsfield, Mass., annual fair, this year set for Sept. 30-Oct. 10, said to be the oldest agricultural fair in New England, dating back to 1820; a list of five notable country stores in Vermont (Willey's in Greensboro Village, Currier's in Glover, Dan & Whit's in Norwich, Floyd's in Randolph Center, and Warren in Warren Village); and tips for carving a pumpkin (use an ice-cream scooper and scouring pad to clean it out, cut the lid from the bottom, not the top, and seal the cut edges of your design with Vaseline).

Editor Mel Allen writes in the magazine that he hopes the issue will inspire readers "savor a cider doughnut, or take a camera to a marsh or a lake in the early morning, or even set out to get lost for a while in the maze of country roads somewhere."

To vote in Yankee's contest for best foliage town, click on "Vote for your favorite town" on the lefthand side of YankeeFoliage.com. Type a town name in the white box next to "Choose your favorite foliage town," then click on the correct place from the list of choices that pops up.