Best of North Idaho coming soon

COEUR d'ALENE — Find out who the best of the best are when the North Idaho Business Journal publishes the results of its "Best of North Idaho" vote held in January.

The Business Journal compiled the list from more than 7,000 votes cast online at www.nibusinessjournal.com during the last three weeks of January. The number was more than double the 2,500 votes cast in 2008, the first year of the contest. And not only did the number of votes more than double, it happened in less than half of last year's eight-week voting period.

Business Journal account executive Lenny DeVore attributed the explosion of interest to people who were voted the best last year knowing about the contest and to people wanting their businesses to be voted best in their categories.

"We had some of the businesses actually tell their customers to vote for them. They wanted to be No. 1 in their category," he said.

There were more than 100 categories, which included people, activities, and individual types of businesses.

Some examples are "best local writer," "best toy store," and "best way to spend a sunny day." While the Business Journal contacted most of the winners, there's a chance you could be surprised to find yourself on the list when we insert the Best of North Idaho into the Coeur d'Alene Press — so keep your eyes peeled for the publication.

But even if you're not looking for your name and you have a firm idea of who's best (no matter how other people voted), it's worth looking at the Best of North Idaho winners to get an idea of just how many different kinds of businesses operate in Kootenai County.

"It gives the community an awareness of who the community feels is best in each genre, and also a listing of different genres of business people might not be aware of," DeVore said.

To find out when the "Best of North Idaho" publishes, call 664-0216.