I can’t believe we’re publishing our 10th annual Best of the Lehigh Valley edition. As I sat down to write this editor’s letter, I took a moment to look back at all of the fun we’ve had celebrating year after year. I’ve been along for the ride since our third annual edition in 2016—and time has absolutely flown ever since! Many things have changed in the magazine’s decade of Best Of. Each year, we add, remove and edit categories. The results were originally published in June, not July (and, of course, there was that time we printed the winners in September during the pandemic). The number of votes has gone from mere thousands to tens of thousands. And the excitement of you, our readers, has grown with each and every edition.
But what has remained the same is our commitment to celebrating the best of our community and the reason behind the contest. We do it because, as cheerleaders of the Lehigh Valley, we see the dedication that our region’s small businesses show day in and day out. We follow along as they celebrate small and big wins of their own, and we work to highlight those wins in our pages month after month. Being voted Best of the Lehigh Valley by the readers of Style is a culmination of those small and big wins. It is recognition by the community that these businesses are doing something very right, that they deserve to be celebrated—and we’re here to celebrate them!
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating with the winners at our Best Of party on Thursday, July 20th at Delta Hotels by Marriott Allentown for an evening of food, fun and community. We’ll see you there!