FEATURE — Congratulations winners! After months of nominations, hours of family and friends debating and thousands of votes being counted, the wait is finally over and the result of who has been chosen as the “Best of Southern Utah” are in.
Looking for a great place to eat tonight? Maybe add a little spice to your life? Red Fort Cuisine of India, winner of the 2019 “Gold Best All-Around Restaurant and “Gold Best Lunch Spot” could be worth a try.
Are you in need of a trustworthy mechanic to tell you where that terrible screeching sound is coming from? Well you are bound to find the cause and get great service at mom and pop shop B.T. Pearson Tires & Service, awarded this year’s “Gold Best Auto Service Center” and “Gold Best Tire Store.”
Living an active life takes up a lot of time and honestly, who wants to investigate the best places to shop, have an eye exam or find the place where the coolest things are happening in town? Now with the “Best of Southern Utah” rating system, the top providers the community has to offer can be found and recognized with ease.
Canyon Media sponsored the competition with Intermountain Audiology to showcase businesses, products and services in the area and unlike typical rating systems, gave local residents the chance to have their voices be known about who is the best in the area.
St. George News readers began submitting their votes on Jan. 28 for the inaugural competition at BestofSouthernUtah.com and just two weeks later, 1,400 of their favorite businesses were nominated. Voting ended on March 15 and of the 924 local companies that made it to the final ballots, 290 were chosen as the best in town.
Canyon’s chief technology officer Shane Brinkerhoff said the response to the competition was incredible and the results can be found online now and inside 20,000 “Best of Southern Utah 2019” magazines being circulated.
“We had 280,000 votes cast by 80,000 unique people,” Brinkerhoff said.
Winners are divided in eight categories:
- Eat & Drink – 43 winners.
- Health & Beauty – 70 winners.
- Home & Garden- 57 winners.
- Motors – 15 winners.
- Professional Services – 48 winners.
- Schools – 10 winners.
- Shopping – 26 winners.
As part of being recognized as the “Best of Southern Utah,” all winners received a certificate to display inside their businesses and their services published in the annual magazine so everyone can know exactly where to find the best places in town.
Brent Rowe, sales director for St. George News said it is a great way for businesses to show what they do best and for people just moving to the area find out who their neighbors think is operating at the top of their game.
“The participation was more than we could have imagined. Way better than we expected,” he said, adding that he anticipates the competition will go on for years to come.
“We hope that the public can look at this as a way to figure out who is the best,” Rowe said.
The magazines are currently out for delivery and will be hitting stands and locations all over Washington County this afternoon.
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