Whether you were a first-time voter this year or you've participated in every single ballot going back to 1994, thanks for voting in our Best of the Inland Northwest readers poll! You've all helped us build this into a local tradition that celebrates excellence across our vibrant local scene. Taken together, it also creates quite the historical panorama of this place we call home.
How It Started
Back in '94, things were a little different. For example, instead of endlessly scrolling through your streaming services, you'd drive to a video store and endlessly stroll through the aisles for something to bring home to watch. In 1994 and '95, we asked for your Best Place to Rent a Video, along with Best Place to Buy CDs or Cassettes. Local legend HASTINGS won for both. We also asked for your Best Place to Meet Your Personals Date (the Personals being the pre-internet version of a dating app that lived in the classified section of the Inlander).
How It's Going
Things change, and our ballot has, too. In 2020, we added questions to find out your picks for vegan and gluten-free options, along with your favorite local YouTube star and podcast. We added food trucks and escape rooms in 2022, and in '23 boba tea, charcuterie boards and local TikTok stars made their debuts. This year, watch for your picks on mimosas, mocktails and where to play pickleball.
Remember Us?
In 1998, we asked about the Best Place to Shake Your Groove Thing (yes, we really phrased it that way), with the answer being the iconic DEMPSEY'S. We've had some fun with our questions, like in 2004 when THE WHITE ELEPHANT won for Best Place to Pick Up a Teletubbie and Some Ammo. (Hey, it was a toy shop/gun dealer — and Spokane loved it, as it was, along with Hastings, named one of the businesses you missed most when we asked last year.)
Others from the gone-but-not-forgotten vault include 1999's best new restaurant, Liberty Lake's MOXIE... Best Martini: CAVALLINO'S LOUNGE (1999)... Best Bar: THE BLUE SPARK (2001)... Best Kids Event: FIRST NIGHT SPOKANE (2008)... North Idaho's Best Fine Dining: FLEUR DE SEL (2013)... and Best Bowling Center: HUGO'S ON THE SOUTH HILL (2013).
Shared Obsessions
We have a thing for our most prominent natural features: potholes and marmots. In 2002, we knew everyone had their own fave, so we asked for your BEST POTHOLE. The winner was Third and Washington, where you can still lose a hubcap if the season's right. When we asked what would be the best thing to complain about after they fix all the potholes (2005), the top answer was "How they fixed the potholes." You guys are funny.
In 2002, when there was talk about creating Spokane State University, we asked you to pick the mascot. Duh, marmots. And when we green-lit an essay on an imaginary BEST MARMOT in 2019, you got to meet Klo'Stok, the Marmot King. "You don't become king of the city of a million marmots," Daniel Walters wrote, "without getting your paws bloody..." Apparently, not cuddly!
Favorite Friends
So many great locals took their turn enjoying your adulation. Way back in 1994, HAROLD BALAZS won his first of many best local artist awards. Best local who got famous (1994)? CRAIG T. NELSON, the Spokane native who became America's Coach. Also getting famous was Spokane's best author URSULA HEGI (1997), whose book Stones from the River was chosen for Oprah's Book Club.
Best TV Hair? Yes, we asked that in 1998, and KREM anchorman CHARLES ROWE took the honors for his Ron Burgundy-level 'do. Best local celebrity of 2008 was PATTY DUKE, who even performed at the Civic Theatre. DAN FITZGERALD, the coach who set the table for Zag success, was recognized as best community volunteer in 2010 for his endless support of any local effort that needed a nudge.
In 2011, Gonzaga's COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT (now of the WNBA's Chicago Sky) broke the glass ceiling and won first place as best athlete, besting the boys Robert Sacre and Steven Gray. CAMI BRADLEY, who took America's Got Talent by storm in 2013, won as best singer-songwriter in 2015 as she started playing locally. And in our 2021 edition, which was published in July due to the pandemic, you gave a great big Inlander thank you to RICK CLARK AND THE QUARANTEAM for stepping up as best pandemic heroes.
Looking in the Mirror
It's healthy to be able to laugh about yourself, and we've asked you to let loose from time to time. Back in 1998, when web addresses were just entering the lexicon, we asked for a URL that would best capture our vibe; they hold up: bigbeltbuckle.com, goingtothelake.com, icantdrive.com, helpme.com and, of course the winner, POTHOLES.COM.
In 2013, Best Description of Spokane for People Who Have Never Been Here unleashed a torrent. Let's break your answers into three categories:
FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT: "Time Warp," "Come For the Beauty, Beware the Reality," "Not As Stabby As You Might Have Heard," "Near Nature, Near Potholes" (of course there has to be a potholes answer...) and "Mullets, Marmots and Meth" (...and marmots, can't leave them out).
LOUD AND PROUD: "Yes, We Put Tartar Sauce on our Fries," "You Can Wear Pajamas Anywhere" and "You Might Hate It While You're Here, But You'll Miss It Like Crazy When You're Gone."
PAINFULLY SPOT ON: "Twin Peaks Meets The Wonder Years," "Where Every Tom Waits Song Could Take Place" and "It Grows On You."
You Asked For It
The Best Neighborhood With Potential in 1998 was GARLAND; just go take a walk around and see what's happened since. The Best Arts Venue to Save (2005) was the almost-demolished FOX THEATER; it reopened to the public as the new home of the Spokane Symphony in 2007. In both 2010 and '11, you asked for TRADER JOE'S as the Best Business the Inland Northwest Needs; it opened the following year. Our voters help make things happen!
Sometimes, despite all your wisdom, it's a mixed bag. In 1997, when downtown's future was uncertain, we asked for the Best Way to Save Downtown. The top three answers were "Keep Nordstrom" (check, the new mall opened in 1999); "Get People To Live There" (happening, but more slowly than we need); and "Free Parking" (still a hard "no").
Downtown remains a work in progress, as is the winner of one of our questions from 1994. Yes, we have marmots and potholes, we've been over that. But the Best Thing the Inland Northwest Doesn't Have Yet (and still true in 2024)? THE NORTH-SOUTH FREEWAY. ♦
