Up & Coming Weekly

2 UCW SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 5, 2021 Best of Fayetteville STAFF It's time to celebrate the best of the best! by BILL BOWMAN PUBLISHER'S PEN Wow! For over two decades, our community newspaper has provided residents, visitors and guests insights into the people, businesses and orga- nizations that invest extra time and effort into making our community unique. Our Best of Fayetteville survey is also unique. Our dedicated readers pride themselves on making sure they are the ones who define and deter- mine who Fayetteville's Best of the Best are. No nominations, no ballot stuffing. Only well-defined enforce- able voting guidelines have elevated the honor and integrity of the Best of Fayetteville designation. However, the survey is not scientific. It is an informal survey, and we make no claims otherwise. However, it has proven to be highly accurate. Following a frustrating year of stay- ing at home, social distancing, vac- cine confusion, mask-wearing, and an overall lack of social interaction, we are slowly beginning to get our lives back to normalcy. So, now, let's celebrate! As our faithful readers know, Up & Coming Weekly's biggest celebration of the year is recognizing and honoring our community's outstanding people, businesses and institutions. is year we are celebrating the occasion at the Crown Coliseum, one of our newest Best of Fayetteville sponsors. Here is where the Best of the Best will congregate to celebrate their achievements and contributions to our All-American City. Over the past 25 years, our commu- nity and our newspaper have changed immensely. However, the Best of Fayetteville readers survey has not. It continues to reflect the best aspects of the Fayetteville community. Annually, we receive thousands of ballots and painstakingly record the comments and sentiments of our readers. is process allows us to get to know who, what and why they value our community members. It is these people, businesses and organizations we want to showcase and intro- duce to Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Cumberland County residents as they continue to work hard year after year to improve, impact and elevate our local quality of life. e Up & Coming Weekly Best of Fayetteville edition you are hold- ing in your hands will serve you well throughout the year. It is a valuable visitor's guide, service directory and cultural and event resource. Please share it with your friends. e format and guidelines for this sanc- tioned, time-tested survey have been designed and audited to provide resi- dents, local businesses and organiza- tions the recognition they deserve for their ethics, dedication and persever- ance in their quest for excellence. Since the first ballots were counted more than two decades ago, Up & Coming Weekly has successfully told the Best of Fayetteville winners' stories. With your votes and support, we are extremely proud to share this year's Best of the Best winners with you. Please join me and the entire Up & Coming Weekly staff and all our 2021 Best of Fayetteville sponsors as we begin this yearlong celebration. For 24/7, 365-days-a-year access to the Best of Fayetteville winners, visit www.upandcomingweekly.com. While you're there, sign up for our FREE electronic subscription and receive the Early Bird edition of Up & Coming Weekly every Tuesday afternoon. I want to thank Mac Healy of Healy Wholesale and Jim Grafstrom of the Crown Coliseum for their help and support. I also want to thank Jimmy Keefe of the Trophy House for creat- ing the beautiful Best of Fayetteville plaques they designed and his service as a Cumberland County Commis- sioner. Of course, every legitimate sur- vey needs a competent CPA, and we have the best. Lee Utley has supported and partnered with us for nearly two decades, and his services have been invaluable. Again, we hope you enjoy this spe- cial edition of Up & Coming Weekly. Keep it handy and refer to it often. We sincerely thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly and supporting your only locally-owned community newspaper. Photos from the 2019 Best of Fayetteville Party. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200 PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly. com EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com WRITER Janice Burton PRODUCTION MANAGER/ GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dylan Hooker art@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATES Don Garner Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com COVER Design by Dylan Hooker. –––––––––––- Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers

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