Voters have final say on county’s best

CATSKILL — What are Greene County’s best of the best?

Voters decided that in this year’s Best of Greene County competition.

After months of nominations and voting, the community had the final say on this year’s creme de la creme in the county, from restaurants to libraries to services to arts and entertainment.

“This is the second year for Best of Greene County. It’s a partnership between the Greene County Chamber of Commerce and The Daily Mail and Columbia-Greene Media,” said Jeffrey Friedman, president and executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. “We work together on the entire project. We choose the categories and the voting is administered through hudsonvalley360.com, where the public votes.”

This year’s competition boasted 52 categories, with voters picking their favorites from “Best Place for Lunch” to “Best Burger,” “Best Library,” “Best Historic Site” and “Best Pharmacy,” among many others.

“In an area that rightly prides itself on history, natural beauty and inclusiveness, these awards honor both generations-old businesses and newcomers just starting out,” said Mary Dempsey, publisher, general manager and executive editor of Columbia-Greene Media. “And it’s very exciting that we are in the second well-deserved year of Best of Greene County.”

Voters began making their selections on the Columbia-Greene Media website in October, and voting ended in January. The winners were presented with their awards at a ceremony Friday at Lumberyard Center for Film and Performing Arts, 62 Water St., Catskill.

“There are two rounds of voting,” Friedman said. “The first is the nomination round where members of the public vote for their favorite business in each category. Then, the top three nominated businesses qualify for the final round. In some categories there are ties, with more than three finalists. In the final round of voting, which takes place in December and early January, the top vote-getters are named Best of Greene County.”

This year, more than 2,171 voters cast over 24,803 votes during the two rounds of voting.

The top vote-getter was Story Farms, in the Best Farm Stand category, with 275 votes. Story’s Nursery received the second highest number of votes — 205 — in the Best Landscaper/Lawn Care Company, followed by Betty’s Place, for Best Place for Breakfast, with 198 votes.

This is the event’s second year. Best of Greene County’s inaugural poll began in October 2018, with awards presented to the winners in January 2019. Best of Greene County was created to highlight the best the county has to offer.

“This is a great event to showcase all the amazing businesses we have across the county and to give the public a chance to weigh in,” Friedman said. “All the businesses are selected by the public, and we thought it would be great for the public to be able to acknowledge all the great businesses we have.”

Visit hudsonvalley360.com this weekend for a complete list of the winners.