What’s the secret to success?
The secret sauce that makes a great meal memorable, or a music venue feel electric? Where our annual Best of Virginia issue is concerned, the businesses that took top honors for 2022 all have one thing in common: the support of loyal fans and tight-knit communities.
At Virginia Living, we pride ourselves on championing the small businesses, the local restaurants, and the mom and pop shops that give Virginia a flavor all its own. To keep things Virginian through and through, this year we made the decision to limit national chains from consideration. This move proved to be a smart one—we saw more new winners and homegrown businesses make the list than ever before. You might notice Five Guys, the popular fast-food burger joint, for example, made the cut, even though it has more than 1,500 locations in the U.S. Why? Well, those famous patties were first flipped in Arlington, where the company began in the 1980s. If a nationwide business was born and bred here, we kept it in the running.
We were excited to see record-high voter turnout in each of our five regions this year. The votes from Southwest Virginia alone nearly doubled compared to 2021. Overall, more than 56,000 of you completed ballots—the most in the 11-year history of our Best of Virginia contest.
And that’s saying something, considering this year’s categories numbered 103, eight fewer than last year. Year after year, we comb through thousands of your responses, comments, and feedback to analyze category performance statistics, taking great care to fine-tune our ballots based on the businesses that matter most to Virginia Living readers.
Thanks to our hardworking staff members, Deanna Johnson and Angela Shapiro; our writers and editors, Madeline Mayhood, Constance Costas, Konstantin Rega, and Margaret Wadsworth; and our art department, headed by Ryan Rich with Cecilia Mondragon-Victoria. This was truly a team effort, and we’re proud to share it with you.
We’d also love to hear from you. Category suggestions, questions about the issue, or just a shout out to your favorite winner. Anything goes.
Happy Reading,
Vayda Parrish
(Associate Editor, Special Projects)
