Best Charitable Event
Third-time Gold winner and Kansas City favorite Jazzoo is certainly the premier charitable event in town, especially in its lucky 13th year. Consistently a sold-out evening, this black-tie gala benefits the Zoo Learning Fund and the Kansas City Zoo. The event traditionally draws 700 volunteers, 125 corporate sponsors, 80 restaurants and thousands of guests. Making its first splash on the list is Harvester's Forks and Corks. The Silver is served up to this event, which raised a record amount this year, enough to provide 575,000 meals to those in need. Race for the Cure draws 20,000 participants annually in its fight against breast cancer and earns the voter’s Bronze.

Best Community Theatre
American Heartland Theatre upstages all others with the Gold in this new category. The theater opened in Crown Centers’ Multimedia Forum on April 1, 1987, and has been bringing the thrills of live performance to the area ever since. Holding to the philosophy of its late founder, Jim Assad, the theater has become a place where the audience can enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the show and enjoy each other. New Theatre opened in 1993, but has roots going back to Tiffany’s Attic Dinner Playhouse and the Waldo Astoria. Under the direction of founders Dennis Hennessy and Richard Carrothers, the popular and profitable theater wins the Silver. Theatre in the Park has come a long way since its boards-on-bricks beginnings in Antioch Park. The group has grown in size and talent in Shawnee Mission and is recognized with the Bronze award.

Best Country Club
Returning to the top of the list, Hallbrook Country Club has again earned the Gold from Ingram's readers. The Leawood club was established in 1988 and has been providing golf, tennis, swimming and clubhouse dining for its members ever since. The club annually ranks high for its golf course as well, a par 72 designed by Tom Fazio. The Hillcrest Country Club makes its debut on the list with an award for the Silver. The club opened its doors on May 27, 1916, and is the only remaining Donald Ross course in Missouri. The National Golf Club of Kansas City is a new upscale golf community in historic Parkville, Mo., that has dazzled the voters and won itself the Bronze.

Best Day Trip
Enough Kansas Citians enjoy the day trip to Weston, just off Highway 45, for it to reign as the Gold winner. Self-billed "most historic town in Missouri," Weston boasts more than 100 pre-Civil War homes, shops, a distillery, vineyards, tobacco barns, state park and much more. Good restaurants there, too. Lawrence prevails for the Silver, and even if you’re not a KU fan, there’s much to do in this bustling town on the Kaw. Missouri wine country wins the Bronze—while more and more wine is being made all over the state, thousands from Kansas City travel to towns in central Missouri like Defiance, Washington, New Haven, Berger and, most particularly, Hermann, for one of several different wine fests held each year.

Best Entertainment Venue
Number one again this year for the Gold is Starlight Theatre, where since 1950 around 8,000 people a year are entertained under the stars. With recent renovations in place, patrons enjoy musicals, entertainers, bands and even radio-show hosts in relative comfort—or not, depending on the weather. Sandstone, renamed oh-so-tongue-trippingly as the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Kansas City, succeeds for the Silver as the (also outdoor) concerts include such names as Jimmy Buffet, Tom Petty and Janet Jackson. Union Station triumphs for the Bronze as both venue and entertainment—Science City, Extreme Screen, the City Dome (planetarium and multimedia show), City Stage and traveling exhibits combine to provide one of the most visited spots in Kansas City.

Best Festival or Fair
Around 200,000 people attended the 19th annual Spirit Festival the last weekend of May, and then they voted it the Gold award. The Penn Valley Park event featured four stages with wide-ranging entertainment, a midway carnival, Stealth bombers and plenty of food and drink. Generous corporate sponsors and 1,000 volunteers have helped the festival donate over a million dollars to local charities. The Plaza Art Fair, one of the most prestigious art fairs in the country, merits the Silver, even though it’s often so crowded during its fall weekend that the art is less important than the strollers, dogs, food, music, drink and fun. Go early, go often, forget the dog—and buy, if you can afford it. The Renaissance Festival qualifies for the Bronze as autumn lovers walk through the Bonner Springs fields transformed into a Middle Ages playground to watch performers of all ilk entertain them with music, dance, food and drink, art and games of all kinds.

Best Golf Course
We didn’t specify private or public, so both are included on the winning roster. Winning the Gold is a relative newcomer, Parkville’s The National, Kansas City’s self-proclaimed premier country club, sporting the country’s first Tom Watson signature course. It’s beautiful . . . and complicated. The Silver goes to Sycamore Ridge in Spring Hill, characterized as a new "jewel" and offering a challenging layout—which must be why their carts come with navigational systems. The Bronze goes to another public course, Deer Creek, in south Overland Park. This Robert Trent Jones Jr. course has lots of water and many trees with a creek wandering through the property. Most find it quite demanding.

Best Happy Hour
McCormick & Schmick’s drinks up its Gold victory cup as it offers a fine list of appetizers (including burgers, clams and shrimp) and reduced-price drinks five nights a week. It’s hard to find a place to sit past 5:15, so get there early. Bubbling up for the Silver is 54th Street Bar & Grill—one or all six of them located in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs and the Northland. Half-priced appetizers, drink specials, a "frequent flyer" card and always happy and convivial crowds create good karma. The Velvet Dog fetches home the Bronze as the original midtown place known for spectacular martinis and a bocce court; it offers locations in Overland Park and Lawrence, too. Specials include those famous martinis, wine raves, $2 double calls and more, all depending on what evening you come in to bark for a while.

Best Jazz or Blues Club
The Phoenix does rise for the Gold prize this year, though it’s always a top contender. The entertainment line-up is the top reason—everyone from the Scamps to Mo City Jumpers—and the food is probably the second—reasonably priced and very good. It’s a quiet little corner downtown on Eighth Street that can really hop, and there’s never a cover. The Grand Emporium switched places with the Phoenix this year for the Silver; its 17 years have provided music lovers with more than jazz and blues including just about every musical variation possible. Just up the hill from the Country Club Plaza sits Jardine’s on Main Street. The small club is big on food and Kansas City music, both of which readers vote top shelf and award the Bronze.

Best Local Musician
Belting her way to the Gold once again (that’s at least three years in a row, folks) is Ida McBeth, whose repertoire includes R&B, jazz, funk, gospel and blues, all delivered with sincerity, perfect pitch and a smile that can light the room. Reappearing from 2000 is Angela Hagenbach, talented and beautiful jazz vocalist, for the Silver. Tying for the Bronze are David Basse and Lisa Henry. Basse, whose 2000 CD Strike When Your Iron is Hot has been wildly popular far beyond Kansas City environs, was once described by a Swedish jazz critic as having a voice that is "the unbelievable combination of Mel Torme, John Hendricks and Al Jarreau." Those in the know also appreciate the fine vocals of Lisa Henry, who can often be found weekends downstairs at the Plaza III (as can Angela).

Best Casino
To win the Gold, the best casino probably must let you win occasionally, employ friendly people to help you, serve up a big buffet where you can stuff yourself and offer sparkling entertainment and bathrooms. That award this year goes to the Ameristar, which says it’s the Midwest’s largest entertainment destination with 3,000 slot machines, KC’s largest poker room, 14 restaurants, 18 movie theaters and year-round headline entertainment. Harrah’s plays the cards well for the Silver for its requisite buffet, convention center, four restaurants and variety of games. Dealing for the Bronze, the Argosy draws shining reviews for its "loosest slot" status and more intimate surroundings—it’s the only "boat" that used to float. All three will take your money and give you a good time in return.

Best Museum or Art Gallery
One more time, more of you voted for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, founded in 1933, for the Gold. The Nelson ranks among the best in the country and is well-known for its Oriental collection. Once the parking situation is remedied (later this month!), revisit this beautiful and very full museum and include Rozzelle Court for a wonderful meal. The Silver belongs to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, opened in 1994, with its ever-changing avant-garde exhibits and superb restaurant. The Truman Presidential Museum & Library, regarded by many as under-appreciated by locals, still captures the Bronze for its wealth of information, interaction and memories about our most famous resident.

Best Performing Arts Venue
Succeeding for yet another Gold is Starlight Theatre. Summer nights can be perfect there, with the stars for a canopy, a vastly improved sound system and even air conditioning, almost, if you sit within 20 rows of the new stage cooling system. Next, for the Silver is downtown’s Midland Theatre. Although seemingly made for those with small butts and short legs, the shows and the Midland’s deco beauty often overpower the physical disadvantages. The Bronze prize needs to be split between the nationally recognized Missouri Repertory (the Helen F. Spencer Theatre at UMKC), for its classical and contemporary drama and comedy in comfortable surroundings, and the Folly Theatre, Kansas City’s oldest downtown playhouse whose neo-Palladian architecture and fabulous interior are a trip themselves.

Best Sports Venue
Of course, there’s probably no question as to which would win the Gold in this category—it’s Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs frequently attract full capacity (over 79,000 screaming fans) and where tailgating has been elevated to a fine art, if fumes don’t bother you. The Silver belongs in the same Truman complex to Kauffman Stadium and the Kansas City Royals, where neither the seats nor the refreshments are quite as pricey—and the fans not so loyal. If you want frenetic, however, Allen Field House during KU’s basketball season gathers the Bronze from devoted enthusiasts.Business Services.

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