BEST DESTINATION TO ENTERTAIN KIDS
Knight’s Action Park 1700 Knight’s Recreation Drive, 546-8881 When the summer sun settles into scorch mode, Springfield is lucky it has a little oasis on the south end of town. Knight’s Action Park and Caribbean Water Adventure offers heat relief with its wave pool, bumper boats and water slides – all on top of batting cages and a 50-tee driving range. Getting its start in 1952, a driving range served as the seed that gave life to what’s now a sprawling complex of family fun. Open year-round, the park remains a kid (and adult) haven even after the pool closes, as folks continue flocking there for the driving range and mini-golf course. Next door, get comfy in the car at the Route 66 Twin Drive-In for double feature movies between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
MOST INTERESTING RESTROOMS
Stella Blue 211 S. Fifth St., 789-8988 When the Corleone family learned that Sollozzo would be dining at Louis’, a tiny restaurant in the Bronx, the first thought wasn’t the veal but the men’s room and its toilet that flushed with a pull rope – perfect for hiding a gun! Even gangsters appreciate quirky bathrooms, but the restrooms at Stella Blue are the farthest thing from The Godfather’s old-time toilets. From boldly blue walls punctuated by yellow tentacles of a painted sun to a rigidly steep sloping sink and the mirror’s organic frame, the bathrooms at Stella Blue are works of modern art.
BEST LOCAL CHARACTER
C-note Fodizzle - KISS-FM 99.7 C-note Fodizzle – the bravest commercial radio personality you’ve ever heard and this year’s best local character. As can be seen on archived video clips on KISS-FM 99.7’s website, C- note is adventurous, letting listeners live vicariously as he experiments with downing raw eggs, shaving off his eyebrows and eating hot, hot, hot red peppers without a soothing beverage in hand. “He’ll do anything for a laugh,” says Bondsy, host of “The Morning Grind,” which airs daily with C-note between 6 and 10 a.m. “He’s like a cartoon character in real life.” But C-note is more than silly experiments, as evidenced by his occasional web post on a variety of topics – from Mayor Tim Davlin’s death to the pitfalls of wearing socks with sandals in the wintertime. A Springfield native, C-note writes that “radio to me is my life, it’s who I am as a person.” Runner-up: Gus Gordon
