Welcome to BOS
Often the news business takes us to the worst of Springfi eld, so we look forward every year to this edition, which brings you the best. In these pages, 72 of them this week, we celebrate our readers’ choices in more than 100 categories for the best in food and drink, music and theater, businesses, personalities and a whole lot more. Online reader participation keeps getting stronger. This year there were just short of 12,000 voters, including the 35 or so diehards who sent their answers in on paper. That’s nearly double the 6,400 ballots we got last year, which was in itself a record.
It has always been a challenge to conduct a creditable “Best of” contest in a town the size of Springfi eld, which often has only one of a kind. For years it was our joke to ask you to pick the best Thai restaurant, when the Magic Kitchen stood all alone. But by honoring a pioneer, perhaps our readers helped spawn the fi ve other Thai establishments that today offer Springfi eld a choice. Springfi eld now has its fi rst microbrewery restaurant – see the multiple winner on this page – so we honor the pioneer, and look for others to follow.
Some of the same old establishments keep being named “Best” year after year, but don’t be bored by that. It takes courage and pluck to keep a small business going in this economy, and always fresh energy to keep the quality up. So, way to go, old favorites like Saputo’s, the Feed Store, Clay’s Popeye’s, Holy Land Diner, Brewhaus, Incredibly Delicious, Old Lux. Keep on keeping on.
It’s always fun to meet the people our readers pick as the best in their fi eld. You’ll be inspired to read about the Williamsville math teacher appreciated by students because he’s tough, the photographer who says trust by her subjects brings magic to photos, the fi refi ghter who is living his childhood dream. Reading about all these good people will renew your appreciation for the character of the community.
The reader poll results comprise about half of this special issue. The other half is made up of the marketing messages of our advertisers, who make our enterprise possible. We urge readers to honor their support for IT by supporting them. And tell them you saw them among the Best of Springfi eld.
–Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher
