News & Articles

As another year passes, the annual Reader’s Choice awards tradition continues. For 16 years you, the above average (tip of the hat to Garrison Keillor) readers of the Northland’s finest newsweekly have devoted oodles of hours providing us with the lowdown on the finest of the Northland. Many thousands of votes later, we have compiled this most excellent list of the best of people, places and commerce. It is an endeavor not without its challenges. Those of you who still enter the good old fashioned paper ballots, hand writing your responses and mailing them in strike us as our most loyal partners in crime.

It would help if we could always read your writing, and manual tabulations are a tad slower than those new fangled interweb dealies. Also, we recognize the challenge of gathering input from such a wide variety of folks. Although our biases are unabashedly in support of all things local, we still end up with people voting for Olive Garden for Best Italian Restaurant or Julia Roberts for Best Local Actress. Whatcha gonna do? We love you anyway.

We learn plenty from our readers through our survey: How else might someone learn about Curry Puffs from Pak’s Green Corner or the fabulous Big Wave Dave and the Ripples? And so we search and learn, but most of all, we wish you a good read.

Results:

• Best of Food & Drink
• Best of Health & Fitness
• Best of People & Media
• Best of Services
• Best of the Material World
• Worst of the Northland