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Kansas City, Mo. – It’s already been a busy election year in Kansas City as a record amount of voters have chosen “Kansas City’s best” businesses and attractions. The Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association (KCCVA) today announced the winners of its second annual KC Visitors’ Choice Awards at the organization’s Annual Tourism Celebration at Crown Center Exhibit Hall.
The Visitors’ Choice Awards are the only awards that are chosen exclusively by visitors to Kansas City. The KCCVA developed the awards program to give visitors the chance to recognize their favorite businesses and attractions in 20 different categories, from Favorite Barbecue Restaurant to Best Midwestern Hospitality.
The finalists for each category were chosen by an online survey of visitors during a two-week nomination period in January. From February 1 to April 30, more than 2,500 visitors voted for their favorites at VisitKC.com, quadrupling the amount of votes collected in 2007. To ensure that the winners were true visitor choices, only votes from outside the five-county metropolitan area were counted.
2008 Visitors’ Choice Winners
Favorite Restaurant | Stroud’s
Favorite Steakhouse | Hereford House
Favorite Barbecue Restaurant | Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue
Favorite Performing Arts Venue or Organization | Starlight Theatre
Favorite Jazz Venue | The Blue Room
Favorite Nightlife Spot | Kelly’s Westport Inn
Favorite Shopping Center or District | Country Club Plaza
Favorite Shop or Store | Halls Kansas City
Favorite Hotel or Bed & Breakfast | Hyatt Regency Crown Center
Favorite Attraction | Worlds of Fun
Favorite Casino or Gaming Venue | Ameristar Casino & Hotel
Favorite Museum or Historical Site | The National WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial
Favorite Art Museum or Gallery | The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Favorite Professional Sports Team | Kansas City Chiefs
Favorite Kids Attraction | Kansas City Zoo
Favorite Festival or Special Event | Kansas City Irish Fest
Favorite Holiday Experience | Country Club Plaza Season of Lights
Favorite Day Trip from Kansas City | Lawrence, KS
Best Midwestern Hospitality | Gates Bar-B-Q
Best of Kansas City | Country Club Plaza
For a full list of all the nominees, click here.
##KC##
Photo Credit: Photos Courtesy of the Kansas City Convention
& Visitors Association
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Ameristar Casino, exterior
Caption: The 140,000-square-foot casino floor at Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City is the largest in the city.
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Country Club Plaza
Caption: The Moorish architecture of the 14-square-block Country Club Plaza is modeled after Seville, Spain.
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Gates Bar-B-Q
Caption: Opened in 1946, Gates Bar-B-Q offers five locations, each greeting customers with their signature, "Hi, may I help you?"
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Hyatt Regency Crown Center, exterior
Caption: The recently renovated Hyatt Regency Crown Center offers 731 guest rooms.
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Kansas City Chiefs
Caption: Nowhere does football quite like Kansas City, home to one of the NFL's loudest stadiums. This image is not available for download.
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Kansas City Irish Fest
Caption: Voted Kansas City's Favorite Festival, Irish Fest occurs every Labor Day weekend at Crown Center Square.
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Kansas City Zoo, tiger
Caption: Home to more than 1,000 animals, the Kansas City Zoo celebrates 100 years in 2009.
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National WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial, interior
Caption: The National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial is the only museum in the country dedicated to the Great War.
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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Bloch Building
Caption: The new Bloch Building at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened on June 9, 2007.
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Starlight Theatre
Caption: Starlight Theatre is the largest outdoor amphitheater of its kind in the nation.
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Westport dining and nightlife
Caption: Originally an outfitting point for pioneers heading West, today Westport is a popular nightlife district. This image is not available for download.
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Worlds of Fun, The Patriot
Caption: One six world-class coasters at Worlds of Fun, The Patriot is the longest and tallest inverted roller coaster in the region.
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