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There is an old Chinese curse that says “May you live in interesting times.” Depending on your point of view this can be a curse or a blessing. There is another saying that says “God doesn’t give me more that I can handle, I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”

In May of 2021, L’OBSERVATEUR, for the first time ever hosted an online contest on lobservateur.com which asked its readers, “Who is the best in the River Parishes?” The format provided categories and readers answered on a “write in ballot”.

In July the top three nominations in each category moved on to the voting round. Readers visited our website to vote on their favorites. At the end of the month, there were 45,744 votes.

In August, the votes were tallied and the top winner in each category had begun to be notified.

At that point perhaps 10 winners knew of their achievement, but then an unforeseen event occurred. LaPlace was hit by a little storm called Hurricane Ida. These results were to be released in September, but the timing was not right as many of the winning businesses, as well as many residences, had sustained damage.

Not all of the winners listed are still in business, whether closed due to COVID, the storm or another reason. It is a testament to their impact on our community and how much they are loved and missed.

To all of the winners, congratulations! The list of winners will be included in the River Parishes Magazine publishing in February.

The nomination process for 2022 will begin again in May. Winners will have the opportunity to defend their title, and others will have the chance to steal it based upon the popular vote. We will also be promoting the 2021 winners on our Facebook page over the next few months.

 

Christine Browning is general manager for L’OBSERVATEUR. She can be reached at christine.browning@lobservateur.com.