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.

Final round underway for Nevada Treasures contest

Valley of Fire State Park in Southern Nevada is a finalist in the Las Vegas Territory. Photo: Matthew B. Brown

Historic sites, natural wonders still in the running; vote through May 4

A handful of Nevada attractions and businesses are vying to be named Nevada Treasures in an online social media contest that began in March as part of the Nevada Commission on Tourism’s Discover Your Nevada campaign. Finalists in six categories were announced today by the Nevada Commission on Tourism; the public has until 5 p.m. on Friday, May 4 to cast online votes at discoveryournevada.com.

“This contest was designed to be a fun way to get people talking about Nevada’s most unique treasures,” says Claudia Vecchio, director of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. “We’ve seen people really get behind their favorites, courting online votes and creating a buzz about these treasures. While we’re very interested to see which treasures eventually win, the real value of the contest has been in the remarkable conversations that have been generated. People are talking about what’s available throughout the state.”

People nominated all types of things as Nevada Treasures, from historic sites and natural wonders, but also a photography symposium, restaurants, wineries, and even people.

The contest is wrapping up, with two finalists in each of six categories (which happen to be the six tourism "territories" of Nevada):

• Cowboy Country: Shooting the West — an annual photography symposium in Winnemucca — and the Star Hotel and Restaurant in Elko;

• Indian Territory: The Lost City Museum in Overton and Pyramid Lake in Northern Nevada;

• Las Vegas Territory: The Colorado River and Valley of Fire State Park;

• Nevada Silver Trails: Goldwell Open Air Museum — an open air sculpture park near Beatty — and Sanders Family Winery in Pahrump;

Ely's Nevada Northern Railway is a finalist in the Pony Express Territory. Photo: Matthew B. Brown

• Pony Express Territory: Churchill Vineyards in Fallon and the Nevada Northern Railway in Ely; and

• Reno-Tahoe Territory: Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park in Minden and Thunderbird Lodge National Historic Site on the east shore of Lake Tahoe.