Morgantown Magazine Spring 2020 Edition

EDITOR’S NOTE

PERSONAL BEST Even in this challenging year, businesses all over town continue to provide great service and go the extra mile. We wish they could all be BOM winners! Here are our New South Media shout-outs for great service.

• Five ties—some categories, like Best Artist and Best Neighborhood Bar, are hotly contested; • Six 10-time winners—Who has the stuff to win BOM year after year after year? Look for badges marking these favorites of all favorites. Running an independent business is hard in the best of times and has proved to be impossible for some beloved establish- ments during COVID. We lament the loss of past BOM contenders who’ve closed their doors temporarily or permanently: among them, Woodburn Shanks Pit BBQ in Sabraton, long a go-to for many of our staff and a craving we hope to satisfy again when restaurant-going returns in force; Blue Moose Cafe, which we have faith will open its doors again in better times; and of course Black Bear Burritos, a many-time multiple-category BOM winner and a great friend of the magazine, which closed its downtown location to focus on its Evansdale operation. The pandemic has been a viscer- al demonstration of the value of shopping and dining local and independent. What will February be without our blow- out BOM party? Never fear: We wrangled a bunch of the BOM winners into each other's businesses in a fun weekend-long video shoot to celebrate buying, eating, and living local in Morgantown—scan the QR code on page 6 or visit us on Facebook to see it. On BOM’s 10th anniversary, we at Mor- gantown magazine are filled with gratitude: for our readers, for our BOM contenders, for all of the Morgantown volunteers and organizations and businesses that have stepped up to help others through the pan- demic, and for our entire community. Support the businesses you love,

Stephanie from Hoot and Howl came to my

rescue! She created a pair of mittens for a photo shoot for an upcoming story. She

took my vision and created exactly what I needed. Thank you, Stephanie! — Carla When my washing machine broke in January, I tried desperately to find an appliance repair person to come out and have a look before I became inundated with laundry. No one called me back. But Mr. John at City Appliance answered. He no longer does house calls, but he had me describe the problem. He told me exactly what needed to be fixed, which allowed me and my husband to tackle the repair ourselves. I can only guess how much money we saved. — Holly

I t’s BOM’s 10th anniversary! And having seen our community rise to the chal- lenge of COVID, it’s a greater plea- sure this 10th year than ever before to celebrate the businesses and people that give Morgantown its character. BOM has both changed and stayed the same for 2021. We’ve held fast for the past few years at 101 categories but, as in most years, we’ve introduced some new categories this year, all of them valuable services: Best Dog Groomer, Electrician, Financial Planner, HVAC Company, Plumber, and Real Estate Agent. Also, back by popular demand this year, Best Pawn Shop. And, like the community, BOM21 was not unaffected by COVID. Best of Morgantown has grown every single year, and it was set to mark its biggest year yet, with an astounding 120,000 nominations in October and No- vember, up from 45,000 last year. Then the post-Thanksgiving surge of coronavirus cases hit. The community turned its attention from sharing the BOM love to home and hearth, and our voting round logged 188,000 votes, down from 304,000 last year. Nevertheless, after a robust showing in every category, we have our BOM21 winners. Inside you’ll find: • 31 first-time winners—BOM voters continue to honor longtime favorites and newcomers alike, which we see as a healthy churn; • Three big upsets of long-settled catego- ries—see Best Pizza, Best Sweet Indul- gence, and Best Musician or Band;

My husband's grandmother passed away early in the pandemic, and he needed a suit to wear to her funeral. We messaged Daniel's of Morgantown through Facebook at 11:49 p.m. on Friday night. Her funeral was scheduled for

Sunday. Phil Mauser met my husband for a private appointment the next morning, helped him find a suit, had it tailored the same day, and personally delivered it to our home when it was ready. I have never seen such customer service, and it will certainly be something that we remember for a long time. — Meggan

University Toyota's service department let me in when I drove up unannounced recently

PAM KASEY, Editor

with a little windshield wiper emergency, at no charge—peace of mind I appreciate. — Pam

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6 MORGANTOWN FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021

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