The Best of the Twin Cities: The Winners

THE CITY GRITTY

BEST CITY STATUTE Minneapolis Code of Ordinances 385.360

BEST LINE IN MAYOR SHARON SAYLES BELTON'S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS "Riverfront housing development is so hot...!"

BEST TOURIST TRAP Downtown Minneapolis

BEST CRAZIEST IDEA WE'VE EVER HEARD Gondolas over St. Paul

BEST JESSE VENTURA QUOTE "If they're good to me..."

BEST DAD Rod Grams

BEST GADFLY Leslie Davis

BEST POLITICIAN Mike Hatch

BEST POLITICAL EMBARRASSMENT Renee LaVoi

BEST SELF-PROMOTION Sara Jane Olson's Cookbook

BEST MEDIA EVENT The Ventura-Trump Butt-Kissing Festival

BEST FARCE The Great Apple Valley Swimming Pool Scandal

BEST CAREER MOVE The Dahm Triplets

BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE Science Museum of Minnesota

BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH The Transit Depot at the Mall of America Readers' Choice: Mall of America

BEST PLACE TO TAKE THE TOTS Minnesota Children's Museum

BEST PLACE TO DUMP SOMEONE Apache Plaza Shopping Center

BEST PLACE TO GET DUMPED Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream Café

BEST SURPRISE APPEARANCE OF UNLIKELY FAUNA Mountain lion, roaming outside the Mall of America

BEST VIEW Witches' Tower

BEST WINDOW DISPLAY Burch Pharmacy

BEST MURAL Celebration of Life

BEST PUBLIC CLOCK Soo Line Clock

BEST FREE TOUR Summit Brewing Co.

BEST FARMERS' MARKET St. Paul Farmers' Market

BEST FREE MAGIC SHOW Eagle Magic & Joke Store

BEST LIBRARY Minneapolis Central Library Readers' Choice: Minneapolis Central

BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY Stillwater

BEST FESTIVAL Juneteenth Readers' Choice: Cedarfest

BEST PARADE St. Paul Winter Carnival

BEST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER Minnesota Women's Press

BEST LOCALLY GENERATED WEB SITE North Star Readers' Choice: citypages.com

BEST URL www.pass-gas.com

BEST CHARITY Philanthrofund Foundation

BEST CEMETERY Pioneers & Soldiers Memorial

BEST CHURCH FOR THE NON-CHURCHGOING House of Mercy

BEST CHURCH FOR THE TIMIDLY RE-CHURCHING Bethlehem Lutheran Church

BEST GOSPEL SERVICE Pilgrim Baptist Church

BEST OPPORTUNITY TO CLEANSE YOUR SOUL Overnight Volunteering at the Simpson Homeless Shelter

BEST OBITUARY Bob Dylan's mother

BEST METH-LAB STORY The Uptown Bust

BEST URBAN LEGEND Y2K

BEST LOST CAUSE Stop the Reroute

BEST BLOW FOR CIVIL RIGHTS Action Against Ageism on Cliff Road in Eagan

BEST PROPOSED STADIUM SOLUTION The Tyrone Dome

BEST BOONDOGGLE Light-Rail Transit

BEST SIGN OF THE LONG-RUMORED RENAISSANCE OF DOWNTOWN ST. PAUL The Minnesota Wild

BEST SETTLEMENT Amazon Bookstore vs. Amazon.com

BEST LOCAL GIRL MADE GOOD Briana Scurry Readers' Choice: Winona Ryder

BEST LOCAL GIRL GONE BAD Sara Jane Olson

BEST LOCAL BOY MADE GOOD Steve Zahn Readers' Choice: Jesse Ventura

BEST LOCAL BOY GONE BAD Dino Guerin

BEST VILLAIN Stephon Marbury Readers' Choice: Jesse Ventura

BEST VICTIM Jan Gangelhoff

BEST PURGE The Bloodletting at Winter Park

BEST GOLDEN PARACHUTE Clem Haskins

BEST GARAGE SALE The Artist

BEST RENOVATION Minnesota State Capitol Rathskeller

BEST GROUND ZERO The Hollman Redevelopment Site

BEST CHRONIC VANDALISM Cotty Lowry's Billboard

BEST FEUD Steve Minn vs. The Minnesota Senate

BEST STATE FAIR RIDE The Ferris Wheel Readers' Choice: The Giant Slide

BEST STATE FAIR FOOD The Milk Shake Readers' Choice: Cheese Curds

BEST LANDMARK The Mississippi River Readers' Choice: Spoonbridge and Cherry

BEST MONTH TO LEAVE THE TWIN CITIES August

BEST MONTH TO BE IN THE TWIN CITIES July

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BEST AM RADIO PERSONALITY T.D. Mischke Readers' Choice: Joe Soucheray

BEST SPORTS TALK RADIO HOSTS Chad Hartman and Dan Barreiro

BEST JAZZ RADIO PROGRAM Fresh Ears

BEST FM RADIO PERSONALITY Steve Griffith Readers' Choice: Tom Barnard

BEST PIRATE RADIO STATION Free Radio Twin Cities

BEST RADIO STATION Radio K (KUOM-AM 770) Readers' Choice: Radio K

BEST TV STATION MTN (Channels 32, 33, and 58) Readers' Choice: KARE-TV (Channel 11)

BEST PUBLIC-ACCESS CABLE TV PROGRAM Inner City Fishing

BEST TV WEATHERPERSON Paul Douglas

BEST TV SPORTS ANCHOR Randy Shaver

BEST TV NEWSCASTER Amelia Santaniello Readers' Choice: Paul Magers

BEST WRITER AT A LOCAL DAILY Brian Lambert

BEST-DRESSED TV NEWS ANCHOR Robyne Robinson

BEST OUTFIT WORN BY THE TIMBERWOLVES PERFORMANCE TEAM T-Shirt and Shorts

BEST GROUP ART SHOW Radiator's UltraNormal at the MinnPar Building

BEST SINGLE ARTIST SHOW 2000 BC: The Bruce Conner Story, Part II

BEST ART GALLERY Franklin Art Works

BEST MUSEUM Walker Art Center Readers' Choice: Minneapolis Institute of Arts

BEST BOOK BY A LOCAL AUTHOR Taking the Wall

BEST WRITERS' WORKSHOP The Screenwriter's Workshop

BEST FILM "Napoleons"

BEST FILM FESTIVAL The Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival

BEST MOVIE THEATER Oak Street Cinema Readers' Choice: Lagoon Cinema

BEST BUDGET MOVIE THEATER Riverview Theater

BEST ART CINEMA U Film Society

BEST THEATRICAL SALVAGE The Heights Theater

BEST CONDUCTOR Stanislaw Skrowaczewski

BEST CHAMBER ENSEMBLE St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

BEST OPERA Faust

BEST DANCER Emily Johnson

BEST CHOREOGRAPHER Wynn Fricke

BEST ARTISTIC COLLABORATION Jeff Bartlett, Lisa Powers, Joseph Stanley, and Robin Stiehm

BEST THEATER FOR NEW WORK The Jungle Theater

BEST INDIE THEATER Hidden Theatre

BEST STAGE PRODUCTION The Threepenny Opera

BEST ACTRESS Sally Wingert

BEST ACTOR Steve Hendrickson

BEST THEATER FOR DRAMA Penumbra Theatre

BEST THEATER FOR COMEDY Theatre de la Jeune Lune

OUT & ABOUT

BEST LYNX PLAYER Katie Smith

BEST TIMBERWOLVES PLAYER Kevin Garnett Readers' Choice: Kevin Garnett

BEST VIKINGS PLAYER Randy Moss Readers' Choice: Randy Moss

BEST TWINS PLAYER Eric Milton Readers' Choice: Brad Radke

BEST BOXER "Fabulous" Fred Moore

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE Erica Killewald Readers' Choice: Tyrone Carter

BEST HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE Jake Sullivan