Voters! We did it! With your help, City Pulse, WQTX-FM and Tim Barron executed a historic get-out-the-vote campaign, bringing a record 1,503 voters to cast ballots (granted, this is only our second time doing this) in our Top of the Town Awards, appraising everything from French fries, to nail salons to blues bands across greater Lansing.
Of course, democracy is messy, and weird stuff happens when you let the people decide. Singer-songwriters get chosen to run for mayor and fast-food chains pull down top honors in dining categories. But all in all, voting irregularities were kept to a minimum.
But there’s still more to be done. For starters, we’ve got a complete run-down of winners and runners-up for you to read about. Then it’s up to you to revisit that favorite old watering hole you forgot about, check out that new band you’ve been meaning to see, or reconsider which nightly news cast you want to watch tonight. Don’t let this historic moment pass you by. Get reading, and then get doing some stuff.
(Write-ups by Karen Cassidy, Lawrence Cosentino, Eric Gallippo, Stephanie Goldberg, Neal McNamara, Nick Robinson, Allan Ross, Joe Torok and Rich Tupica.)
Becky Beauchine Kulka
Runners-up: Wheat Jewelers and Linn & Owen Curvy, shiny, soft and purple: that’s Becky Beauchine Kulka, both the person and the store. Here an all-female staff, a saltwater aquarium, undulating displays and plush purple rug work a strange alchemy to convert misty emotions into solid, precious objects. The staff even keeps a file on regular visitors from Mars (men), the better to help them build their Venusian loved ones’ collections. 3544 Meridian Crossing, Okemos. (517) 347-4000.
