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From the publisher: It’s Best of the Boat time

Logan Molen

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — As a newcomer to Steamboat Springs, I’m still in awe of its many distractions. The trails beckon me in and out of town, but I regularly feel the pull of the events, food and drink, stores and people here in town.

With that many distractions, there’s stiff competition for attention, and that’s why we like to recognize Steamboat’s excellence each year through our Best of the Boat contest.

We’re kicking off this year’s voting Aug. 30 with a new twist: a two-week reader nomination period that will precede two weeks of voting on the finalists. Here’s how that process will work:



1. Visit BestoftheBoat.com between Aug. 30 and Sept. 13 to nominate your favorite businesses, professionals, service organizations, etc., in any of 106 categories in the following groups: Business & Community, Professionals, Food, Drinks, Shopping, Health, Home & Garden and The Lighter Side.

During this nomination phase, it’s critical for people to nominate their favorites. If an entity isn’t nominated, it can’t advance to the final round. For example, our readers might submit thousands of nominations for Best Craft Cocktail, but only those businesses receiving nominations will move on to the finalist stage. 



We’ve reduced the number of categories this year, from more than 140 to 106. In analyzing last year’s voting results, we discovered that dozens of categories didn’t get enough votes to warrant inclusion this year. We realize Best of the Boat voting takes time, and we want to make the process easy on our readers. 

2. From Sept. 14 to 19, Steamboat Pilot & Today staff will sort through all nominations and compile finalists for each of our 106 categories.

3. Visit BestoftheBoat.com between Sept. 20 and Oct. 4 to vote on the finalists in each category. We’ll publicize this stage and send out voting reminders to anyone who participated in the nomination process.

Winners will be announced in the winter issue of Steamboat Living magazine and at a gala event at The Steamboat Grand in early December. And I can say, we have some fun ideas to make this year’s Best of the Boat event more exciting and memorable than ever. Details to come. 

Let us know how we’re doing

After my last From the Publisher column and our Coffee and a Newspaper event a few weeks ago, several readers contacted me to share feedback on our news and editorial policies. One reader complained about spelling errors and another suggested we do more to raise the bar on civil discourse and to discourage the use of words and phrases meant to inflame.

The spelling thing is straightforward — we are not perfect, but we should strive to be. The second request is harder but is an area that could be improved. I’ve talked with Editor Lisa Schlichtman about this, and we’ll work to encourage civil dialogue within our opinion articles, letters to the editor and online comments.

Longevity Project

Thank you to the 324 readers who cast votes in our Super Seniors contest featuring more than 40 local residents leading long and active lives. During the next month, we will recognize and highlight this inspirational group of people in multipart, in-depth stories and at a Sept. 21 event in Steamboat Springs documenting how and why people live longer in Routt County. 

Our Sept. 21 Longevity Project event at Colorado Mountain College will focus on “The Blue Zones,” a best-selling book that details research into how health, fitness and diet play key roles in communities around the world whose residents live longer, healthier lives. Guest speaker Tony Buettner and local experts will discuss “The Blue Zones” and why residents in Colorado mountain communities have some of the highest life expectancies in the United States. 

Tickets will be on sale the first week of September. Stay tuned for details.

Colorado Hunter

I erred last column regarding the availability of Colorado Hunter magazine. Because of a production change, distribution of this year’s 140-page magazine will now begin at the end of this month. Look for your copies at newsstands throughout the region.

Pilot briefing

A few weeks ago, I announced our new weekday Pilot briefing smart-speaker podcast. I start my weekday mornings by saying, “Alexa, play my flash briefing,” and I get a quick rundown from the Pilot & Today, National Public Radio and The Wall Street Journal. It’s a great way to ease into my day, and I’d encourage readers to give it a listen. For information on how to listen on your Amazon Echo, Google Home or other audio devices, visit SteamboatPilot.com/smart-device.

If you have questions, compliments or suggestions about Steamboat Pilot & Today coverage, please contact me at lmolen@SteamboatPilot.com. I may answer some of your questions in future editions of From the Publisher.

To reach Logan Molen, call 970-871-4224, email lmolen@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @lmolen.


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