• Sean Metcalf

If you’ve lived in Vermont for any length of time, it’s a safe bet that you’ve found something to love — whether that’s craft beer or creemees, swimming holes or ski slopes. As luck would have it, you’re about to discover a slew of new favorites. The Seven Daysies are back to celebrate what’s great about our state.

→ Skip to the sections...

Since 2003, Seven Days has been inviting locals to vote in hundreds of categories that highlight why we’re lucky to live here. Vermont is no Vegas, but we’ve really hit the jackpot with the businesses, people and places in our midst. So for the Daysies’ 21st year — Blackjack! — we took our chances with a Sin City theme for our annual readers’ choice awards.

Make that Win City. This year’s Daysies issue recognizes 237 winners and nearly 900 finalists in categories ranging from best bookstore to burger, festival to farmstand, tattoo parlor to teahouse.

It feels good to give ’em all some love, especially now. Our last Daysies issue was published shortly after 2023’s catastrophic flooding, when many places in these pages were under water — metaphorically if no longer literally. Some of the same communities were hit by heavy rains again earlier this month. It’s been a hard year, and the fact that so many past winners have retained Daysies status is a testament to their value and resilience.

You can bet your bottom dollar there are new Daysies winners, too. Looking to learn more about this place we call home sweet home? Let this issue serve as both an ode and a guide to the best of Vermont, according to Vermonters. Roll the dice: Choose any category and end up with a directive for an adventure. You’ll find yourself headed to a new picnic spot, public beach or place to dance — and with some local bands to play on the drive there. There’s more practical intel, too: Voters weighed in on where to get a mortgage, a haircut and your tires changed. Sharing is caring, after all.

Except when it comes to our awards party on August 2. What happens in Las Daysies stays in Las Daysies!

— Carolyn Fox

Did you attend the Daysies party at ECHO?

If you posed for pic in our Vegas-strip photo booth, the images are now on the Seven Days Facebook page.