Best of Cincinnati 2009

Another year, another special section jammed with people, places, businesses and events that make Greater Cincinnati such a great place to live and work. As usual, it wasn’t difficult to find enough to write about — the challenge was how to squeeze everything into 80 pages.

As we geared up for CityBeat’s 13th annual Best of Cincinnati® issue, I had my usual panic attack: Would we identify enough interesting
staff picks, would we find enough local people to profile, would the readers choose the same old winners? Once again, we got lucky.

There’s so much going on in Greater Cincinnati — from restaurants, arts organizations and retail stores to politicians, musicians and athletes — that we had no problem finding highlights. Our staff of writers did a great job pulling together staff picks and feature stories in each section: Mike Breen (Out & About), Danny Cross (Jocks), Jason Gargano (Eats), Kevin Osborne (Public Eye), Margo Pierce (Urban Life) and Maija Zummo (Goods & Services).

You did an excellent job this year, too, filling out more reader ballots than in any previous Best of Cincinnati issue. We received more than 5,000 online ballots, resulting in a number of first-time winners sprinkled among the perennial favorites.

The graphic design of this issue is a winner, too, springing from Art Director J. Cobb, whose friend Lori Brown made our plush pig mascot by hand. Cameron Knight clearly had fun placing the pig in photogenic situations for our section openers and our feature stories.

Here are more highlights you’ll find in these 80 pages:
• Winners of 175 Readers Picks, resulting from the most reader votes in Best of Cincinnati history.
• Winners of 200 Staff Picks that cover people, places and things the readers might have missed. We also offer six feature stories on further choices — one in each major section — ranging from comfort food restaurants for uncomfortable times to charitable musicians to an interview with UC’s most beloved athlete, Connor Barwin.
• One of Greater Cincinnati’s signature elements gets its own feature story: our ever-present hills. From our love affair with the views to our battles driving them in the snow, we’ve learned to embrace our many,
many hills. Local environmental experts share their favorite hill stories.
• Revisit previous Best of Cincinnati® issues if you’re not convinced at the depth and breadth of life in Cincinnati — the good, the bad, the important events, the small moments, the people, the businesses, the
neighborhoods. Devour this year’s issue and rediscover why we’re lucky to call Cincinnati home.
— JOHN FOX

WINNER BADGES AVAILABLE HERE