REAL FLORIDA MAGAZINE
‘Best of The Real Florida’ Winners Announced
For several months ‘Real Florida Magazine’ solicited readers and Facebook subscribers to nominate their choices for the best local providers in several categories of goods, services and events. The winners are declared ‘People’s Choice- Best of The Real Florida’, with bragging rights and local notoriety, and the results were announced on Friday, May 13, 2016.
‘We were again surprised by the number of submissions’, says Debbie Goulding, President of The Goulding Agency and operations manager for ‘Real Florida Magazine’. ‘This is the third time we have held the competition and our original concept was to simply solicit our readers to submit their “People’s Choice” of local businesses’.
‘In the absence of a local effort to promote local businesses at no cost, we publish articles and pictorials highlighting local business, and have done so for several years’, continues Goulding. 'Along with a “Help Wanted” feature, these articles are regularly featured on our social media and websites, and we currently enjoy just over 35,000 unique Facebook followers, with over 100,000 social media followers in aggregate’.
Winners in several categories, based on local public response, include:
Air Conditioning/Heating Service: Woodall’s Total Comfort (Marianna)
Attorney/Law Office: Jordan Peskin P.A. (Chipley)
Automotive Detailing/Car Wash: New Level Detail (Chipley)
Automotive/Repair: Nichols Auto Repair (Chipley)
Bank or Credit Union: One South Bank (Chipley)
Butcher Shop/Meats: Stone’s Meats (Chipley)
Cable/Internet Provider: Bright House (Chipley)
Carpet Cleaning/Water Extraction: Carpet Masters (Chipley)
Caterer: Gloria Potts/1901 Café (Chipley)
Childcare: Kid’s World (Chipley)
Chiropractic Services: Mark Taylor (Chipley)
Clothing/Boutique: Emmie & Co. (Chipley)
Clothing/Boutique: Westerner (Chipley)
CPA/Accounting Services: J.D. Sasser’s Bookkeeping (Chipley)
Dentist: Jeremy Lewis, DMD (Marianna)
Event/Holiday-Themed: Marianna Mistletoe Market (Marianna)
Event/Children: ‘ArtKidDoo’ Festival (Chipley)
Event/Festival: ‘Panhandle Watermelon Festival’ (Chipley)
Event Venue: Vance Theater (Chipley)
Farm/Feed and Seed: Main Street Market (Chipley)
Florist: Kirby Holt/Blossoms (Chipley)
Fraternal Organization: Chipley Kiwanis Club (Chipley)
Furniture Store (New): Chavers-Brock (Chipley)
Furniture Store (Used): Second Time Around (Chipley)
Green Grocer/Fresh Fruit & Vegetables: Main Street Market (Chipley)
Grocery Store: Piggly Wiggly (Chipley)
Guns/Firearms: Chipley Gun & Pawn (Chipley)
Gym/Fitness Facility: Chipley Therapy Group (Chipley)
Hair Stylist: The Final Touch (Chipley)
Hardware/Building Supplies: Chipley Hardware (Chipley)
Health Foods: New Beginning (Chipley)
Hospice: Emerald Coast Hospice (Chipley)
Hospital/Primary Care Clinic: Northwest Florida Community Hospital (Chipley)
Insurance (Car/Home/Life): Rogers Insurance (Chipley)
Jeweler/Jewelry Store: Watson Jewelers (Marianna)
Lawn Care Equipment: Lane’s Outdoors (Chipley)
Lawn Care/Maintenance: Waylon Yates/Yates Lawn Service (Chipley)
Massage: Simmer Down Massage (Chipley)
Music/Performing Band: Dickie Merritt and the Original Bama Jam (Marianna)
Musical Event: Marianna Summer Concert Series (Marianna)
New Car Sales: Marianna Toyota (Marianna)
News Service/Online: Foster Folly News (Chipley)
News Service/Newspaper: Washington County News (Chipley)
Nursery/Plants: Piney Grove Nursery (Chipley)
Parade: Bonifay Rodeo Parade (Bonifay)
Pawn Shop: Chipley Gun & Pawn (Chipley)
Pest Control: Cross Country Exterminators (Chipley)
Pharmacy/Drug Store: King’s Drugs (Chipley)
Photographer/Photographic Services: Kacie Rogers (Chipley)
Physical Therapy/Rehabilitation: Chipley Therapy Group (Chipley)
Plumber/Plumbing Service: Harrison’s Plumbing (Marianna)
Physician/PA/Medical Clinic: Wendy Corbin P.A. (Chipley)
Radio Station: WOOF-FM (Dothan, AL)
Realtor/Real Estate: Cindy Birge, Elite Realty (Chipley)
Retail Store/General Store: Walmart (Chipley)
Restaurant/Full Service: Javier’s Mexican Grill (Chipley)
Restaurant/Quick Serve: Zaxby’s (Marianna)
Shoe Store/Boots: Westerner (Chipley)
Sporting Goods: King’s Outdoors (Chipley)
Technical College/Adult Education: Florida Panhandle Technical
College (Chipley)
Television Station: WTVY-TV (Dothan, AL)
Tires/Alignment: Walmart (Chipley)
Used Car Sales: Corbin Auto Sales (Chipley)
Veterinarian/Animal Hospital: Panhandle Veterinary Services (Chipley)
‘Other similar contests break down into many subcategories, but
we decided to keep this short and sweet’, Debbie Goulding
explains. ‘We are based in Chipley, Florida, so we naturally see a preponderance of nominations for local businesses’, says Goulding, ‘but now in our third year of the contest, we see more and more response from Jackson and Holmes County, as well as Panama City and Dothan’.
