BEST HAIRSTYLIST Emilie Yeager, Bangger’s Hair Studio 1042 W. Jefferson St., 793-6511 She can do the sedate, the crazy and everything in between. No wonder Best of Springfield voters chose Emilie Yeager as the area’s best hairstylist. At Bangger’s for about two years now, Yeager says the key to a happy customer is getting to know them. It also helps make work not feel like work. “It’s kind of like getting to hang out with a friend for 45 minutes. And getting paid for it,” she says. When she’s not in the salon, Yeager’s working backstage for theater productions, including this weekend’s Rocky Horror Show, developing her creativity and versatility. “If you get too comfortable with what you can do, you get stale.”

BEST HEALTH CLUB FitClub 2811 W. Lawrence Ave., 787-1111 3631 S. Sixth St., 787-8348 2701 E. Sangamon Ave., 788-8250 A gym membership doesn’t do you any good, if you quit going after the first workout. That’s why FitClub is bringing more and more group fitness opportunities to its members, says Jim Copelin, manager of FitClub West. “When you do it yourself, that’s a high fail rate,” Copelin says. “You’re not engaging with anything except equipment.” The strategy must be working, at least according to the overwhelming number of voters who called FitClub the best health club in town. Emphasizing the miseryloves-company idea, FitClub West is especially proud of its new Art of Strength training room. The club won a $10,000 installation at a recent convention for equipment including bandit loops, which hang from the ceiling, and ship ropes, which trainees lift up and down while one end is firmly attached to the ground. Call it a three-in-one, as Art of Strength routines combine cardio, weight and resistance training all in one 45-minute workout. Two personal trainers together lead classes of about 12 trainees, who are energized by the camaraderie the open Art of Strength rooms facilitate, Copelin says. He adds that FitClub still caters to those looking for a little less “rowdy” of a workout – an armory of workout machines is complemented by group fitness classes ranging from Zumba and yoga to step and cycling.

BEST BIKE SHOP Ace Bike Shop 2500 S. MacArthur, 523-0188 Gas prices gotcha down? Sweating your britches off pedaling to work? No worries, Ace Bike Shop’s got you covered. They have the old standard but also the new, including a variety of battery-powered electric bicycles. Take a seat on one of those puppies, pedal forward and you’ll feel a little extra zip – no extra effort required. Just enjoy your morning commute. It’s one of the more recent changes manager Rich Moscardelli has seen on the bicycle scene since he first started working at the shop as a kid 16 years ago. But now, just as back then and when the shop opened in 1957, the core of the business is customer service. “It’s the only thing you can do differently,” he says.

BEST PET BOARDING Dal Acres Kennel, 793-3647 2508 W. Jefferson St. Walk into Dal Acres West Kennel and you’ll smell nothing. It’s a point of pride and a sign of the kennel crew’s diligent work in keeping 110 pet pens clean every day. Dal Acres East, which Glen Hudspeth bought in 1983, closed early this year as the Hudspeth family decided to focus its attention on the newer facility, opened in 1995. There, Hudspeth’s Akita show-dogs stay alongside boarding dogs, which get the royal treatment. “Everyone working with the dogs knows each one, it’s likes and dislikes,” Pat Hudspeth says, adding that Dal Acres is home for her and her family. “It’s just a way of life for us.”

BEST PET GROOMER Bob Hofstetter and Lindsey Vance Ellis, Dal Acres Kennel 2508 W. Jefferson St. It’s a tie. Bob Hofstetter and Lindsey Vance Ellis are Springfield’s best pet groomers. Either they occasionally pick up a tip from each other, or a room filled with a double dose of their calm demeanors is just bound to put all creatures furry and fluffy at ease. The two work side by side at Dal Acres West Kennel, together sending about 80 cats and dogs out into the world each week looking and, therefore, feeling good. While Ellis just came to Dal Acres this year, the sight of her and Hofstetter cutting and brushing away right next to each other is nothing new. Before Hofstetter came to Dal Acres in 2009, both he and Ellis tamed fur at a local pet store.