Welcome to Google, Kansas

No Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore. You are in Google, formerly known as Topeka. Yeah, that's right. In a bid to woo Google into installing its superfast 1 gigabit per second test Internet connection in their community, the mayor of Topeka announced he renamed the city Google for the month of March.

As a way of testing it's new fiber network, which downloads 100 times faster than cable, Google has invited communities to submit their bids to Google Fiber for Communities through March 26th and will offer to pilot test it for at least 50,000 people and perhaps 500,000. A minimum of 100 communities across the country have answered the call, submitting formal RFPs and more unconventional (and amusing) videobids on YouTube.

Not to be outdone by Google, Kansas, Rancho Cucamonga, which was founded in California way back in 1977, has offered to change its name to Rancho Googlemonga, if selected. Its campaign also includes a motto: "Rancho Cucomonga wants to think big with a gig." And, in a YouTube video entry submitted by Duluth, Minnesota is an offer to name every first-born son in the city Google Fiber. Huntsville, Ala. which is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, has whipped up a Facebook fan page with 6,000 supporters — which is nearly half the size of the city itself. And Quincy, Mass., home to two American presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, now claims a homepage with a Quincy-inspired logo Quoogle. Competition is fierce. Even Quincy, Illinois has thrown its YouTube video into the ring.

How serious are these cities? One Topeka, or rather Google, Kansas entry featured a rap invitation filmed entirely in the shower.

Apparently, all's fair in love and fiber optics.

Video by kaiserdean via YouTube and photo by dannysullivan via Flickr.