• Jeff Drew

Looking for the 2018 ballot?
Sorry, voting in this year's contest is officially closed. Check back here on August 1 for this year's winners.

Do you believe in flower power? We do. At a time when so much in the world seems so uncertain, we’re embracing our inner flower children and spreading peace and love in our community. We can’t help it — Seven Daysies season just turns us into one big ol’ love machine.

The Daysies are the locals’ guide to the best of Vermont. Think of this special 15th-anniversary issue, brought to you by Seven Days, as a bouquet of flowers from your fellow Vermonters — they’ve picked you the prettiest petals in the patch. If you’re looking for the best bars, restaurants, museums, theaters, shops, services and bands in the land, you’ll find them right here.

So, how did we come to Daysie-crown these winners? Great question! It took two rounds of voting. First, folks wrote in their favorites for everything from best bookstore to barber and best day hike to dive bar. We read every single one of your nominations — srsly, all of ’em — and tallied the votes, selecting the top finalists in each category. And then we asked you to vote again, multiple-choice style, to be sure it was true love and not some fling. This year’s Daysies were, in fact, a bona fide love fest: 9,385 people cast 572,306 individual votes in 172 categories. Unless you’re allergic to flowers, that’s nothin’ to sneeze at!

Congrats to all of the Daysies winners! We hope you feel the love. And thanks, Seven Days readers, for voting. Flower power to the people.

A note about the “Outside Chittenden County” section. In Vermont, the largest population is inside Chittenden County, so it’s tough for anyone outside to top the Burlington area. But in some instances — say, best restaurant or best draft beer list — the passionate swell of votes from outside Chittenden County justified separating the category.