Annual polling showcases Valley’s best

The results are in.

As part of today’s edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, a special section highlights our annual “Best of the Valley” winners. We congratulate the local businesses and business professionals recognized by readers as the best. We also thank our loyal readers for taking the time to vote.

For many years now, the Frontiersman has hosted this popular contest, which showcases the best of all the region has to offer. It’s an opportunity to recognize the cream of the crop in our community.

Beginning in mid-April, we opened polling for this year’s readers’ choice competition. We asked for preferences in four general categories covering a broad array of individual selections.

As the Mat-Su has grown in recent years, so has the number of those individual “best of” questions. To help manage the growth in balloting, we switched over to more convenient online voting this year.

In so doing, we were able to do away with cumbersome hand-clipped ballots from the print edition of the Frontiersman. In addition to being more convenient for voters, online balloting also added a layer of integrity to the contest and made tallying votes easier, too.

As you peruse the list of 2014 winners, you are likely to recognize some “usual suspects.” Testament to the vibrancy and consistency of the local business community, many of this year’s winners have won multiple times previously.

Best of the Valley recognition is also a good reminder of the importance of supporting local businesses by shopping locally. Because where you spend your money really does matter.

When you buy new jeans, a TV, a haircut or a meal from a locally owned business, that money goes directly into our local economy in the form of wages. Then those wages are spent again, by your friends, family and neighbors, on food, rent and other necessities.

The number of times a single dollar can be recycled through local businesses can have a profound, positive effect on the Valley’s economy. It is like a turbo-boost to our economic engine.

The Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce estimates that for every $100 spent locally, $68 stays right here in our community. But even when we shop at big box stores, when we choose our local stores, the chamber estimates $43 stays in the Valley.

Smart shopping benefits everyone. From a better job market to an expanded tax base, a robust business environment enriches the community and encourages more of the same.

Shopping locally is an opportunity for each of us to give back, to invest some of our hard-earned dollars in the place we call home. So we encourage our readers to take time to visit not only the winners of this year’s Best of the Valley polling, but also the many other businesses operating in service to this community.