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Times Argus 2009 Best of the Best

This year we introduce the Times Argus Readers' Choice Awards because we felt the need to celebrate what's great about our part of Vermont. If you agree with us, you think Vemront is the best place to live in the United States, which naturally means this voting would pick who's the Best of the Best. So our readers were selecting what became known around the office here as the "BOB Awards."

These awards are a chance for people to find out what they might not have known, or might have had in front of them all along without really appreciating. Many of the award-winners are local icons or long-time favorites, but some of them might not have as much time in the public eye. We hop you find out for yourselves what makes these businesses and people special enough to be the Best.

A big thank you goes out to the readers - you took the time and care to help us out, and we appreciate it. From Waterbury to Hardwick, Montpelier and Barre, we heard you ....

We want the BOB Awards to continue to improve - this year we introduced more than 150 categories, everything from Best Plumber to Best Art or Music School (we were a little too ambitious, and we may cut it down a bit next year, but we had a surprising number of fully completed ballots), and we held group photos of many of the winners on the Statehouse steps and at City Hall Park in Barre earlier this week. The weather was fittingly cooperative, as you will see in our center spread, and we hope that crowd wilkl be back again next year. Please let us know how we can improve this next year, and we're always happy to hear your thoughts.

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