People & Places >>

• Best Kansas Citian
  Ida McBeth
  It's only fitting that Ida McBeth would win the race for Best Kansas Citian; the highlight of her year was her participation in ceremonies connected to another election. McBeth, perennial Best Female Vocalist winner at Pitch Weekly's Klammies, performed the national anthem prior to Al Gore's... More >>
• Best Remnant of Kansas City's Glory Days
  Kansas City Livestock Exchange Building
  Towering from what was once the heart of America's heartland, the Kansas City Livestock Exchange Building radiates with a sense of history so powerful it seems to effect every other structure around it. To the north stand steel silhouettes cut from Robert Morris's Bull Wall, a sculpture... More >>
• Best Use of a Downtown Wall
  The "Town of Kansas 1850" Mural
  Driving into downtown from the north, you used to be assaulted by billboards as you crossed the Broadway Bridge. Not anymore: Looming to the left, painted on the side of an old River Market building, there's now a mural of a steamboat chugging along next to a raft in the muddy Missouri, with... More >>
• Best Crushworthy Local Celebrity (Female)
  Kristie Stremel
  We have now entered the Tiger Beat section of the Best of Kansas City list. Let us sing the praises of the Local Celebrity Crush. Since celebrities are highly visible, and since we don't know them personally, it's easy to imagine they have all sorts of yummy character traits. Please note that we... More >>
• Best Crushworthy Local Celebrity (Male)
  Jeremy Hubbard, KMBC Channel 9
  Although there are many crushworthy candidates in town -- Donnie Edwards, Tony Gonzalez, Mike Sweeney, and Kerry Zavagnin, just to name a few -- we're still infatuated with Jeremy Hubbard, reporter and weekend anchor for Channel 9 (and winner of our Best TV Hair category last year). His... More >>
• Best Place to Have Sex in Public
  The Nelson-Atkins lawn
  This award has nothing to do with Shuttlecocks. The great big, sprawling lawn at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is poorly lighted at night. Need we say more? More >>
• Best Place to Sweat Next to a Celebrity
  Bikram Yoga Works Studio
  In a mirrored room heated to nearly 100 degrees (the better to promote deep muscle stretching), fans of Bikram Yoga, an intense routine of 26 postures, twist their bodies like pretzels for 90 minutes while drenched in sweat. It's always a surprise to see what local celeb or mover and shaker... More >>
• Best TV Personality
  Windy, the KSHB Channel 41 weather dog
  Not since Lassie has a canine had such a love affair with the TV camera. The 10-year-old (her 11th birthday is on November 11) mix of shepherd, sheltie, and other more exotic breeds is the longtime pet and companion of KSHB weatherman Gary Lezak, who takes the dog to all his public appearances.... More >>
• Best Local Commercial
  Price Chopper
  Price Chopper commercials with the Chiefs have been a great tradition in Kansas City. High in not only production value but camp value as well, they have entertained us between quarters for years. Among the classics: The close-up of a giant Neil Smith towering over Arrowhead and, better yet, the... More >>
• Best Local Radio Show
  Fish Fry, hosted by Chuck Haddix, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.-midnight, KCUR 89.3
  Listening to Chuck "Haddock" host Fish Fry is pure comfort for the soul. With a deft hand at programming for the heart and feet, and a soft voice that can remake a bad day, Haddix is a DJ like no one else in town. Blues, both electric and acoustic; soul from the 1960s; rhythm and blues from... More >>
• Best TV Hair
  Gary Lezak, KSHB Channel 41
  Good hair is a genetic thing, crossed with a fortuitous encounter with a talented stylist. KMBC Channel 9's Jim Flink has a friend in his barber; so does Karen Kornacki, who has taken her makeover on Oprah last year to heart. KCTV Channel 5's Gary Amble has that clean-cut, corn-fed approach to... More >>
• Best-Dressed News Team (Female)
  KCTV Channel 5
  Royal blue suits and shellacked hair don't have to be the unflattering dress code for TV anchorwomen. Consider the women of Channel 5: Tracy Townsend, Anne Peterson, Katie Horner, Barbra Porter, and the rest of the team personify style and elegance in their Talbot's-inspired suits of dark... More >>
• Best-Dressed News Team (Male)
  KMBC Channel 9
  Unfortunately, men don't have much room for creativity when it comes to suits. Local anchormen seem to adhere to the Regis look or the black-pinstripe-suit-and-red-tie combination. However, Dave Stewart, sports anchor for Channel 9, isn't afraid to be seen in front of thousands of viewers... More >>
• Best Morning Newscast
  The Early Show, KCTV Channel 5
  Before 8 a.m., we want our news like we want our coffee -- straight. No cream or sugar, just information: plenty of news stories, a little weather, a traffic report. And KCTV 5's Early Show delivers. Anchors Valissa Smith and Brian Curtis are upbeat without crossing the line into nauseating, and... More >>
• Best News Anchor
  Elizabeth Alex, KSHB Channel 41
  Elizabeth Alex is more than just an on-air personality, more than just a talking head who recites the news with the right inflection. For one thing, she's one of the few local anchors who actually do some reporting -- and we're not talking "look at the charity event I went to today." We're... More >>
• Best Sportscaster
  William Jackson, KCTV Channel 5
  So what if local sports pundits such as Jason Whitlock and Greg Hall dis KCTV's William Jackson? Maybe they're just jealous they're not as dapper as he is. In a market full of boring sports reports, Jackson brings the highlights to life with his punctuated delivery, reading them as if he were... More >>
• Best TV News Comeback
  Tom Lawrence, WDAF Channel 4
  Another station dumped Tom Lawrence for a younger guy last year, but this year the seasoned newsman was the one replacing the younger guy on WDAF's weekend newscasts. Toby Cook, who looks like like he's about 14, moved to weekday mornings, and Lawrence now gives the Fox affiliate's weekend... More >>
• Best News Helicopter
  Sky Fox Live, WDAF Channel 4
  For years, Kansas Citians have been taking their only television news helicopter, Sky Fox Live, for granted. Even though competition has come to town, WDAF's Bell Jet Ranger 206B-III still delivers the clearest aerial images around. In the hands of experienced pilot Johnny Rowlands, Sky Fox Live... More >>
• Best Voice of Reason Amid the Hysteria Surrounding Derrick Thomas' Death
  Mike Hendricks, The Kansas City Star
  Although recently his insipid exploration of SPAM and his campaign for the world's largest river fountain nearly dashed his chances of winning a Best of Kansas City award, Mike Hendricks' Derrick Thomas postmortem deserves recognition. Last February, while almost everyone else in the city -- and... More >>
• Best Reason to Read The Kansas City Star on Sunday
  Yael T. Abouhalka
  Thanks to Yael T. Abouhalka's "City Matters" column, the Sunday paper doesn't have to be all features and fluff. Every week, there on page B11, Abouhalka treats Star readers to some intelligent analysis on weighty issues without sounding like a blowhard. His opinions are well-informed, his... More >>
• Best Local Politician with Populist Appeal
  Phill Kline, Republican candidate for Congress, 3rd District, Kansas
  There's something about Phill, and it has nothing to do with using the wrong kind of hair gel. Kline has charisma. Up close, the guy knows the rub. He'll remember your face if not your name, lay a compliment here and there without overdoing it, and talk about what he believes in while giving the... More >>
• Best Imitation of Sam Donaldson by a Local TV Journalist
  Dave Helling, KCTV Channel 5
  Dave Helling's intellect and doggedness make him KC's best television reporter. His talent doesn't go unnoticed, and Helling is in demand as a moderator and panel member when organizations sponsor public-affairs events. In August, Helling moderated a "debate" between Democrat incumbent Rep.... More >>
• Best Audio and Visual Aids at a Public Meeting
  Whoopee cushions, 3-D glasses, and suckers, Johnson County Board of Commissioners meetings on the Wonderful World of Oz
  Johnson County resident Phil Klein (not Kansas state representative Phil Kline or congressional candidate Phill Kline) is a magician, naturally given to using props. Through the years Klein has been a thorn in the side of the Merriam City Council regarding its use of tax breaks and bond money,... More >>
• Best Grassroots Organization
  Franklin-Douglas Counties Coalition of Concerned Citizens
  They stopped a highway and saved the land! Well, not yet. But in the process of battling a proposed four-lane highway between Lawrence and Ottawa, the Franklin-Douglas Counties Coalition of Concerned Citizens has given the Kansas Department of Transportation its share of headaches. The group's... More >>
• Best Lawyer
  Charles Benjamin
  It was a big year for Lawrence environmental lawyer Charles Benjamin. He scored a big coup this year when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of his clients the Kansas Sierra Club and the Kansas Natural Resource Council. The suit called on the EPA to force... More >>
• Best Activist
  Mark Creamer
  Anyone who has caroused Lawrence's Massachusetts Street on a Saturday night has seen Mark Creamer with his "HONK FOR HEMP" signs and his phony three-dollar bills printed on paper made from the sacred herb. It doesn't matter how bad the weather is, he's out there stumping for the legalization of... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Activist
  Mark Esping
  Oh sure, Mark Esping goes to the Old Hyde Park neighborhood association's meetings. He takes part in crime watch walks on Saturday nights. But what he did this summer brought together more than just those people living in his immediate vicinity. He unified the whole city. It was such a simple... More >>
• Best Hard-to-Find Neighborhood
  Argentine
  A half century ago, Argentine was home to railroad and meat-packing workers. The packing plants are gone now, and higher wages and people's desire for new homes sent the railroad families to communities south and west. But railroad tracks still cut through Argentine's northern edge, and... More >>
• Best Place to Pine for the Artist's Life
  Thomas Hart Benton Home
  There are no great masterpieces at the Thomas Hart Benton Home, just reprints. Benton's paintings have all been hauled away to museums around the world. But the house is pretty much as it was when the artist lived there a quarter century ago. It's a nice house; not too grand, not too quaint,... More >>
• Best Charles Bukowski-Like Writer in Kansas City
  Charlie Hutto
  Charlie Hutto's response to being compared with the late, great Charles Bukowski was this: "I'm just a fuckin' jerk who puts my shit out on e-mail. It's kinda like you're in a bar and you're shootin' the shit with someone, then later you remember what you should have said. You think that (what... More >>
• Best Place to Hang Out
  Rozelle Court, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
  Certainly the prettiest spot in Kansas City to sit with a cup of coffee and a pastry, the center courtyard of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has been a restaurant and gathering place since the former outdoor atrium received a glass ceiling in 1981. Open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays... More >>
• Best Uplifting Church Service
  St. Monica Catholic Church
  The St. Monica Catholic Church choir is a slice of heaven on Sundays. Guided by music leader Melvin Kerr, the talented ensemble injects entertainment value into services and cuts against the grain of the traditional Catholic celebration. "That's what Jesus was -- on the edge," says St. Monica's... More >>
• Best Spot for International People-Watching
  City Market
  For 142 years and counting, the City Market has been one of Kansas City's most enjoyable places to walk, shop, and do business for people of all colors and nationalities. At least seven languages -- English, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Spanish, and Italian -- are spoken there on a daily... More >>
• Best Annual Festival
  Ethnic Enrichment Festival
  A Kansas City tradition for more than 20 years, the free Ethnic Enrichment Festival is a delight for the senses, with music and dance performances going on while the smell of barbecue and spices floats all around. The food is the main attraction; with vendors representing nearly 40 countries... More >>
• Best Reason for Goin' to Kansas City
  To Enjoy Your Personal Space
  There's room to move in Kansas City. By all accounts, we boast the lowest population density of any metropolitan area in the United States. Within the Kansas City metro area, each square mile holds only 324 people. If you think that's sparse, consider this: A square mile contains 27,878,400... More >>