Nevada Magazine announces 2012 Best of Nevada winners

Nevada Magazine’s July/August 2012 edition, which reveals the winners of the publication’s 15th annual Best of Nevada readers’ survey, is on newsstands now. From Brewery to Wedding Venue, the annual listing includes 18 categories. In most cases, the categories are divided into North, South, and Rural Nevada, giving tourists plenty of statewide vacation ideas.

Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno is a five-category winner, voted Best Casino, Hotel, Nightclub, Spa, and Wedding Venue in Northern Nevada. David Walley’s Resort Hot Springs & Spa won two categories: Best Spa and Wedding Venue in Rural Nevada. The Best of Nevada food-and-drink categories (Brewery, Buffet, and Restaurant) are covered extensively in the magazine’s “Cravings” department, highlighted by Reno’s Cactus Creek Prime Steakhouse, which won Best Restaurant in Northern Nevada for the third year in a row.

Red Rock Casino Resort Spa is the only two-category winner in the Southern Nevada discipline, earning Best Casino and Spa honors. Tropicana Laughlin won Best Restaurant and Wedding Venue in Rural Nevada. The recently opened Mob Museum won Southern Nevada’s Best Museum category in its first year of eligibility, and Tonopah’s Central Nevada Museum won the Rural Museum category for the third consecutive year.

A complete list of winners can be found at nevadamagazine.com. To see past Best of Nevada winners, click here.

July/August 2012 issue

Best of Nevada winners Nevada Northern Railway in Ely (Best Place to Take the Kids; Rural) and Valley of Fire State Park (Best State Park; South) also were honored with the distinction of being named one of the state’s six treasures in a recent Nevada Commission on Tourism campaign called Discover Your Nevada. Like Best of Nevada, the treasures—one from each of the state’s six “territories”—were determined by public vote.

Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park (Minden), Goldwell Open Air Museum (near Rhyolite), Nevada Northern Railway (Ely), Pyramid Lake (Indian Reservation), The Star Bar & Dining Room (Elko), and Valley of Fire State Park are the six treasures and the subjects of the July/August issue’s cover story, which also discusses how Governor Brian Sandoval and Lieutenant Governor Brian K. Krolicki have taken active roles in promoting intrastate travel.

Also in the July/August issue are stories about renovations at Las Vegas’ original resort—Golden Gate Hotel & Casino—sister bed and breakfasts in Alamo, a cozy B&B in Kingston, and a history story about the July 18, 1912 flood that wiped the northwestern Nevada mining town of Mazuma off the map.

Nevada ‘treasures’ unveiled

Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, in Reno-Tahoe Territory, is one of Nevada's "six treasures," according to voting results in the Nevada Commission on Tourism's Discover Your Nevada campaign.

After several rounds of voting and months of friendly competition, six unique locations in Nevada have been identified as Nevada’s Treasures, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki announced today.

“The Discover Your Nevada campaign has been incredibly well received, and the Nevadans who have visited the TravelNevada.com website have served to unleash a renewed interest in the wonderful tourism opportunities available throughout Nevada — ranging from the well-established venues to some of our state’s truly unknown treasures,” Krolicki, chair of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, said. "The governor and I are delighted to participate in this marvelous campaign, and are gearing up to hit the road shortly to revisit some of our favorite places as well as to discover treasures that have somehow eluded us during our many years of traveling this great state."

The Nevada Treasures competition was part of NCOT’s Discover Your Nevada campaign, a three-month endeavor to encourage in-state travel and to educate Nevadans about some lesser-known corners of their state.

Goldwell Open Air Museum.
Photo: Shane Kruitbosch

The nomination period kicked off on March 1, and NCOT received 587 nominations in the state’s six tourism territories: Reno-Tahoe, Cowboy Country, Pony Express, Nevada Silver Trails, Las Vegas, and Indian Territory. Several rounds of voting narrowed the competition until the final two in each category were announced April 30.

“It was so interesting to see the variety of nominations, from natural wonders like Cathedral Gorge State Park to world-famous sights like the Las Vegas Strip,” Claudia Vecchio, director of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, said. “Even more interesting and thrilling was to see the local residents and business owners reach out to their communities to rally support. The volley of marketing on the local level grew with each round of voting, and residents jumped on board to support their favorite venue.”

The final round of voting closed at 5 p.m. on May 4. The winning treasures are:

• Cowboy Country: The Star Bar & Restaurant in Elko
• Indian Territory: Pyramid Lake (Indian Reservation)
• Las Vegas Territory: Valley of Fire State Park near Overton
• Nevada Silver Trails: Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite
• Pony Express Territory: Nevada Northern Railway in Ely
• Reno-Tahoe Territory: Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park in Minden

For more information about the Discover Your Nevada campaign, visit DiscoverYourNevada.com.

Nevada Magazine announces 2010 Best of Nevada winners

Nevada Magazine’s July/August 2010 issue is available on newsstands throughout Nevada. In the edition, the winners of the 13th Annual Best of Nevada readers’ survey are revealed. From Brewery to Wedding Venue, the anticipated annual listing includes 17 categories.

Readers can also explore some of the Silver State’s unique, fragile environments via a feature on Nevada’s lakes and the environmental challenges facing them and a story about Nevada’s nine National Wildlife Refuges. Desert NWR in southern Nevada and Sheldon NWR in northwestern Nevada are covered extensively.

A story about Nevada tour companies (the cover image, also shown below, features a helicopter view of Hoover Dam) helps travelers plan their next Nevada adventure, and after a day of Nevada sightseeing, nothing hits the spot quite like southern-style soul food, the topic of this issue’s Cravings story.

A piece on St. Thomas tells the interesting history of a town that was once submerged by rising Lake Mead. The ghost town is now above water due to prolonged drought in southern Nevada. The Events Spotlight takes readers to the counter-culture festival in the Black Rock Desert, Burning Man, and the People feature spotlights Madeleine Pickens and her nonprofit, Saving America’s Mustangs.

Finally, the magazine’s Tour Around Nevada continues in the historic town of Ely. On July 17, Nevada Magazine will attend Nevada Northern Railway’s celebration of Engine No. 40’s 100th birthday. Visitors to the Ely event can pick up free magazines and other Nevada information, and Nevada Magazine staff will present a plaque and framed story to the town.

Writers’ Contest Deadline is Approaching

In addition to its popular Great Nevada Picture Hunt photo contest, Nevada Magazine is holding its first Writers’ Contest in 2010. Submissions — writers are required to keep their stories at 1,500 words or less — must be received by Monday, August 2 at 5 p.m. (PST). The first-place winner will be published in the November/December 2010 issue.

See contest details at nevadamagazine.com. Refer questions to Editor Matthew B. Brown at editor@nevadamagazine.com or 775-687-0602.

July/August 2010 cover image photo by Matthew B. Brown