Best Of Tucson®

The Lost Treasures of Tucson

Sometimes, it’s a mystery how Best of Tucson® comes together. And sometimes, it comes together as a mystery.

We got our first clues from our readers. More than 12,000 of you sang like canaries when we asked you about Tucson’s finest galleries, cafés, bands, upscale restaurants, dive bars, taco joints and so much more. You love this town as much as we do.

After former web editor Tara Foulkrod fully investigated the ballots before she beat it out of town, our newshawks started to crack the case. Managing editor Austin Counts, associate editor Jeff Gardner, calendar editor Emily Dieckman, columnist Tom Danehy, comedy correspondent Linda Ray and arts writer Margaret Regan wrote about the winners, while Danehy worked the graveyard shift to craft a short story, “The Lost Treasures of Tucson,” that runs through our pages.

Our resident artistic genius Ryan Dyson handled the art design and the cover, while ace designer Madison Wehr came out of retirement to lend a design hand on the ads. Shutterbugs Hector Acuña and Bandit Riveredge snapped the photos. Production chief David Abbott stitched it all together. The sharp-eyed team of staff writer Nicole Ludden and proofreader Sheryl Kocher dug through the pages looking for typos. Distribution manager Alex Carrasco and his delivery crew got the paper onto the streets and into your mitts. And new Web Editor Mike Truelsen put it online, where it will live forever. You can flip through the digital version of the issue here.

Special thanks to our sales team led by femme fatale Casey Anderson: “Cheerful” Kristin Chester, Lisa “The Hop” Hopper, “Merry” Candace Murray and Tyler “The Dragon” Vondrak. Without their hustle, you wouldn’t be holding Best of Tucson® in your hands.

Here at the office, Jaime Hood and Claudine Sowards wore green eyeshades and kept all the numbers in line. A big note of gratitude goes to Mr. Big, aka our indefatigable publisher Jason Joseph.

Finally, a huge thanks to our advertisers, both in this issue and over the past three-and-a-half decades we’ve been putting the Weekly on the streets. None of this would have been possible without their support. Best of Tucson® has always been about celebrating our town’s finest independent businesses and the artists, performers, bartenders, baristas, shop owners, chefs and others who make Tucson a special place. Now, more than ever, they’re behind the eight ball and need our support if we’re not going to lose more Tucson treasures.

OK, I’m gonna shut my yap. Now grab yourself a cuppa joe and get wise to the Best of Tucson.®


Jim Nintzel
Executive Editor