It’s official. Best of the Bay is 21. We’re all grown up.
Nah.
But we did get big. Throughout the 21 years that Creative Loafing has published these annual issues, they’ve traditionally been our largest of the year, not just in page count but in the sheer man and womanpower involved in making them happen. And that’s not even counting the thousands of readers who vote in the Readers’ Poll. (See the record-breaking results of this year’s poll on the Readers' Poll page)
The people who lent their expertise to the task of choosing the best (and occasionally the worst) of Tampa Bay are listed below. They’re the ones who shared ideas, brainstormed, emailed, asked around, checked their memory banks (human and electronic) and came up with the accolades and brickbats in the three main sections: People, Places & Politics; Food & Drink; and Arts & Entertainment. If we missed anything, let us know; we’re already starting our lists for next year.
Special thanks to Creative Director Todd Bates, Online Producer David Russell, Associate Editor/Operations Joe Bardi and the entire edit staff for working so hard and with such amazing patience on this issue, which, I’m not going to lie, can be a real bear. Thanks as well to CL Publisher James Howard, Operations Manager London Fajkus, Sales Director Chris Madalena and his crack team of account executives, without whom this issue would not exist. Plus, major kudos to promotions gurus Joran Oppelt and Matthew Schiel for their inspired work in staging The Loafies, our annual awards show (which took place Sept. 21 at Czar in Ybor City).
And a special shout-out to Sales & Production Co-ordinator Kelly Moroni. Stricken with a torn something-or-other in her left leg, she endured surgery on Wednesday and came back to work on Monday — in a wheelchair, with her left leg encased in a metal cast. She didn’t have to, we would have understood, but I suspect she felt it would have been well nigh impossible for us to put out this issue on time without her help.
Thanks, Kelly. You’re the Best of the Bay.
Best of the Bay 2011: They Wrote It
(in alphabetical order)
Shawn Alff
Joe Bardi
Juliette Cassistre
Gretchen Corthron
T. Hampton Dohrman
Julie Garisto
Rommie Johnson
Mark E. Leib
Marysia Lopez
Katie Machol
Cecilia Messina
Patrice Murphy
Joran Oppelt
Mitch Perry
Leilani Polk
Valerie Quintana
Deborah Ramos
Brian Ries
Ray Roa
Catherine Durkin Robinson
Keeley Sheehan
Arielle Stevenson
Todd Sturtz
Evan Tokarz
Monica Torres
Megan Voeller
Melanie Wiesen
David Warner
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2011.