“Celebrating the awesome nature of Chicago every day.”
That’s the answer that one of you offered up to our audience-survey question: “Best idea to salvage from Chicago 2016.” We couldn’t agree more—that could actually be our tagline.
When we sat down as a group of editors and writers to plan this, our seventeenth edition of the Best of Chicago, the city’s lost Olympics bid was still a fresh wound. Whether you found that day’s news devastating or perhaps a relief, chances are you felt at least a little bit worse. Like deciding to break up with someone and having them beat you to the punch: you’re left wondering what was wrong with you.
Our discussions soon turned to the question of Chicago being a world-class city, an idea we all knew needed no Olympics for affirmation. We decided, then, to highlight some of the elements of our city that give it its cosmopolitan flavor. Of course, we’ve always sought out those characteristics in Chicago, so you might not even notice the difference. And that’s the idea, sort of. Let’s just keep doing world-class work and the world will notice soon enough.
So here is, for your consumption, the Best of Chicago. The people, places and crazy things that make us what we are. This is a joint venture, between Newcity and you, our audience, who painstakingly voted in seventy-five odd categories in order to share your vision of the city. Your results follow our critic’s selection in each category, sometimes punctuating our choice, sometimes setting us straight.
Best of Chicago was written by Laura Hawbaker, Brian Hieggelke, Veronica Hinke, Tom Lynch and Michael Nagrant
With additional contributions by Nicole Briese, Jason Foumberg, John Greenfield, Jan Hieggelke, Scoop Jackson, Jonathan Kaplan, Nate Lee, Garin Pirnia, Fred Sasaki, William Scott and David Witter
Editor's Letter: December 2022 As we end this year, we want to thank all of you for your continuing readership and support. You're the engine fueling us.
