Arlington Economic Development organizes the contest and residents vote for their favorite businesses in each category. The winners were announced at this afternoon’s County Board meeting. This year’s winners are:
County Board Chairman Walter Tejada offered the reminder that the best way to support these and other Arlington businesses is to shop locally, especially during Arlington Small Business Day on Saturday, November 30.
The awards, presented by Arlington Economic Development, are in the following categories:
Those interesting in nominating a business — any business in Arlington is eligible — can do so at the ShopArlington website. Nominations will be accepted from now until Oct. 4. All nominations and voting are tracked via IP address; only one vote per IP address will be counted, according to AED.
The contest organizer, Arlington Economic Development, said residents cast more than 5,000 online votes for their favorite local businesses. The nominees in each of the 17 categories can be found here.
The big winner today was Mark Fedorchak, co-owner of Liberty Tavern and Northside Social, who walked away with three awards. ARLnow.com also won an award.
Green Party Outperforms Past Results — By pulling in 12.4 percent of the vote for County Board, Green Party candidate Audrey Clement roughly doubled the percentage of the vote Green candidates have typically received during past County Board races. The question now is can the Greens get that percentage even higher next time by better identifying who is voting for the party’s candidates? [Sun Gazette]
Miss Saigon Coming to Signature Theater — Signature Theater has secured the rights to the well known musical Miss Saigon, and will open its 2013-2014 season with a version of the production. It will be the first time a theater company in the D.C. area has taken on the show in 15 years. [Variety]
The ABBIES recognize “Arlington’s best businesses” in 17 different categories. Businesses were nominated by residents and the winning businesses will be chosen by popular vote.
Voting will take place through Nov. 9. The winners will be announced at the County Board meeting on Nov. 27. Last year’s winners can be found here.
APS Posts Pass Rates for State Test — Arlington Public School students passed the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) tests at rates above statewide averages, with one notable exception. Hispanic students in Arlington passed the English reading test at a rate 5 percentage points below their statewide peers. [Arlington Public Schools]
GOP Opposes Recreation Bond — Calling it a “boondoggle,” the Arlington County Republican Committee has voted overwhelmingly to oppose a $50.6 million bond that would help to build a new aquatics center at Long Bridge Park. At the same time, Republicans voted to support a $42.62 million school bond. The bond issues, along with bonds for Metro and for “community infrastructure,” will appear on the November ballot. [Sun Gazette]
Out of the several dozen nominated local businesses and organizations, the following won in their respective categories after voting by the public:
Out of the 15 categories, 10 had the same winner as last year.
Now’s your chance to make sure your favorite businesses in Arlington get recognized. Voting for the 2011 ABBIE awards begins today.
Nominations for Arlington’s Best Business Awards came via online voting from September 21-October 12. They’ve been narrowed down to the to the top five (and in one case six) finalists in each of 15 categories.
It’s Christmas Time Again — Thanks to the owners of Ballston Common Mall, Pentagon Row and other retail outlets around Arlington, we are reminded that this is the time of giving… your credit card to the person behind the register.
Shirlington Plans Tree Lighting Ceremony — Shirlington Village will hold a tree lighting ceremony on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 30. The event will feature free horse-drawn carriage rides. More from the Shirlington Village Blog.
ARLnow.com has been nominated for an ABBIE, under the category “Arlington’s Best Place to Learn Something New.” However, we’re facing tough competition from the category’s reigning champ, the Arlington Public Library system.
Our odds are especially long, considering that the library isn’t any old small business — it’s a large government entity with nine locations around town, dozens of staff members and thousands of customers — who receive its services for free. Plus, while the general public is limited to one vote per computer, ABBIE rules specifically state that publicly-accessible computers at the library are exempt.
If you like the original news and information we provide on a daily basis, please vote for us online, under the category “Arlington’s Best Place to Learn Something New.”
Our most formidable opponent in the voting may be the Arlington Public Library (which isn’t really a business, coincidentally). The library won last year, commands considerable loyalty from the community (after all, they give away stuff for free) and has physical outposts around the community where they can post signs and such for thousands to see.
