Reports came out and the publicity was fantastic. Features were written about each site. Even James’s mystery was covered. In fact, his project became the source of much speculation.

Comparisons were made with the Seven Wonder’s of the Ancient world. Scholars were booked for television to talk about them. Coffee table books were quickly produced with gorgeous color pictures and clever diagrams.

This led to the celebration of other obvious Wonders. The Great Wall of China came in for praise as did the Taj Mahal and Chichen Itza. Modern structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Three Gorges dam were brought up to show that mankind was still producing great things.

Not all of the reaction was positive. There was condemnation that such rich people would build great playthings while there was still poverty and suffering going on. Various newspaper editorialists suggested that the rich should play more quietly with their toys. There were suggestions that they were trying to steal the thunder of the rest of the world by topping their Wonders.

Environmental activists protested at Casey’s island building project. Other protestors tried to get to James’s mine but they found the security too difficult. There were small protests at the Tower and the Labyrinth but it’s harder to argue that farmland must be kept pristine. The other sites were too urban for them to care about.

The bet became a subject of late night talk show fodder. Cartoonists did long riffs on vanity projects. Even popular musicians and sit-coms made references to what they were doing. A popular coining mint readied a special run to commemorate the entire event.

Unexpectedly, donations started coming into each of the non-profit organizations. Some people became excited enough that they wanted to contribute on their own. State legislators offered to help but they were forbidden by the rules of the bet.

Property around the rural sites was quickly bought up by speculators. Each one expected a boom of hotels and theme parks. Some of the contestants had expected this and got in on the action themselves. Others were caught flat-footed and missed out.

Tourism boards planned wide ranging ads to celebrate their own local sites and to try and draw in people from out of state. Travel agencies started planning Seven New Wonder tours, designed so that savvy travelers could see all seven. Airlines started planning new routes to the nearest airports. They didn’t want to miss out.

The names of the board of judges leaked out. They were mostly history professors and art experts from various state universities. Each one was profiled in newspapers. They were asked to judge the ancient wonders so that everyone would have an idea what the final round of judging would look like.

Betting lines sprung up around the world. People could bet on who would have the most tourists or who would win the history portion. The Temple of Beauty was the odds on favorite for the tourist bet simply because of it’s location. Fans of the other sites vowed that they wouldn’t let this happen. Each Wonder quickly had a fan club of people ready to organize support.

A few of the contestants loved every second of the publicity. Most just ignored it or wished it would go away.