Just as summer starts each year, the Sun staff goes collectively insane working on Best Of.
Don’t get me wrong, we love Best Of! What a great way to celebrate excellence in our community. But seriously, it’s a lot of work.
We count hundreds and hundreds of votes, contact dozens and dozens of businesses owners and organizations, and put together the biggest issue of the year. In this case, you’re lookin’ at the largest issue of the paper ever. Not bad, eh? I can really spread my wings today.
Over the years, I’ve seen runners-up take previous winners’ titles only to be voted second best the very next year. I’ve seen the same institutions dominate their categories uninterrupted. I’ve seen a lot, but there are a few awards I wish we had that never made the cut. Every writer here has at least one category and winner in mind.
Like Best “We Don’t Need the Publicity” Owner/PR Person, the people who we call and never call us back, never email back, never answer the bouquet of flowers, never accept our hot air balloon ride invitation, and who, when backed into a corner of their business, say, “We just do word-of-mouth.” Look I get it, we know everyone loves your food, but that includes our readers, so at least give them a “thank you!” for voting you in. Sheesh!
I don’t know about you, but I keep an issue of Best Of close at hand whenever I need a recommendation about where to have fun, get my car tuned up, or donate some time or money. So when I see the winners get excited about the issue, I get excited, which brings me to my next fantasy award:
Best Reppin’ Of Best Of would recognize those who hang every poster and framed award at their business, from first place to runners-up, year after year. I think North China gets that one unequivocally, their waiting room has just about every Best Of poster going back to George W. Bush‘s first term!
But hey, I do want to give an honorable mention to the Santa Maria Public Library, which posted last year’s small window sticker in its front door. Even an exalted public place like a library can’t help but celebrate when locals vote them in, that’s how proud they are.
I’m sure the Lompoc City Council wouldn’t be proud to win Best Place to Get Flip-Flops, which it certainly deserves (see page 7). I don’t think Jim Mosby, Dirk Starbuck, and Victor Vega‘s decision to remove a recreational cannabis buffer zone for the Classical School of Ballet, after Mosby voted to support a buffer zone for the school, was a flip-flop that anyone is buying. It sure seems like the only thing the council can agree on is making decisions that piss people off.
I think Councilmember Janelle Osborne should at least get the Best “I-Told-You-So” for pointing out the buffer-zone decision was “opening the door to litigation” in April. And an honorable mention to everyone who pointed out that it would also hurt business owners like Angela and Mason Mill.
It’s not often an elected official wins a category in Best Of, but this year saw an exception to that rule.
Congrats to Sheriff Bill Brown for his actual win of Best Man or Woman Behind the Badge this year. Way to go, Bill, I’m sure you were more concerned about your re-election in June than this contest, but it must be nice to have some community support. And while the Santa Barbara County Jail isn’t winning any awards for Best Correctional Facility, you still have a significant number of locals who approve of how you run the Sheriff’s Office.
But alas, the sheriff will have to settle for runner-up for my awarding of the Best Moustache category, because you know who that goes to, my man Peter Adam! Your mustache has always been a source of inspiration, Supervisor Adam. Don’t you ever change, I mean, shave.
As long as we’re tooting horns here, we might as well toot our own. The Sun won runner-up for Best News Source this year, which we truly do appreciate. (See, it isn’t that hard to say “thanks!”). We don’t keep awards in mind when we’re huffing across Northern Santa Barbara County collecting the news each week, but we will definitely take the time to enjoy the recognition.
We take your trust seriously, no matter what the story is. From new affordable housing units for farmworkers (see page 8) to the artists who call the Central Coast home (page 93), we’re always looking for what’s going on in our North County communities, what’s changing, and who’s accomplishing incredible things. That’s why the writers here agree, it really is the Best Place to Report On, which makes the job so much sweeter!
The Canary wonders what Best Of category you would create and who you would award it to. Send your thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 2-9, 2018.