Pride in community doesn’t even begin to describe the heart and soul of this area, and this issue—Best of 2022—certainly shines a well-deserving light on the people, businesses and services that make your community vibrant, dynamic and a top spot to live, work, play and raise families.
Before we head to the big reveal, we need to express our appreciation to all of you, who voted in this year’s readers’ poll. While most of the elements remained the same, we did switch it up with a few new categories (Best Pizza, Best Plant-Based Menu, Best OBGYN and Best Jeweler) and the all write-in voting process. It was time for a bit of a glow-up, and we took into consideration some of your recommendations to create, what we believe, is our best readers’ poll yet!
I don’t blame you if you flip right over to the list of winners and finalists (I was excited to read them, too!), but don’t forget to visit the rest of this month’s issue, where we include top picks from our Noteworthy contributors, articles about grilling, local nonprofits, the color of the year and your Facebook favorites when it comes to our 2021 articles.
Editor’s Picks include some stories that don’t fall into the poll’s bucket, but I felt they were worthy of the spotlight, too. There you’ll meet some area residents, a business owner and longtime name in local education, all of whom are making their marks in the area by way of giving of themselves in altruistic and genuine ways.
And for dessert, we serve up a list of newly-opened restaurants, which we hope will be included in our Best of 2023 issue as some of your favorite places to #DineLocal.
We are pleased to bring you the Best of 2022.
–Renée Stewart-Hester
