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Best of Miscellaneous

2010 Best Local Celebrity Josh Kelly • Photo By Cheyenne Ellis

Miscellaneous

Car Wash
The tip-top truck wash, van wash, crossover wash, SUV wash, taxi wash, hot rod wash and, oh, car wash is Top Notch Car Wash (multiple locations), perhaps because actual human beings are on the premises. Lulu’s Exterior Express (232 Bobby Jones Expwy, 3129 Peach Orchard Rd.) and Sparkle Express Wash (4993 Washington Rd., 204 Edgefield Rd., North Augusta) take second and third, respectively.

Barber
Like a step back in time (except in the haircut department), Durden’s Barber and Hair Styling (1405 Monte Sano Ave.) will take a little off the top and send you on your way as least looking like a better man. Quite the sweet deal. Daniel Village Barber Shop (2522 Wrightsboro Rd.) wins the silver scissors. Omar’s Barbershop and Day Spa (3741 Washington Rd.) sweeps up third and passes the shavings on to you. (Not really.)

Place To Buy Cheap Gas
Let’s rephrase that: inexpensive gas. Some people find the term “cheap gas” to be offensive. Kroger (multiple locations) is the place to go for all your oil sheik-stiffing needs. (Not really. But it might make you feel better to imagine that.) Readers say Greg’s Gas Plus (multiple locations) in second place should have been named Greg’s Gas Minus; Circle K (multiple locations) scores third.

Local Charity
Because we all may need them one of these days, we, the citizens of Augusta, voted Golden Harvest Food Bank into the top spot. The Salvation Army and its soon-to-be Kroc Center wait in the wings, anticipating a resounding victory next year. Child Enrichment Center is our third-most favoritist charitable charity.

Fundraiser
Rearrange the letters in fundraiser and what have you got? Dear fun, sir. And that’s what the Morris Museum Gala is all about. It’s your state of the art fundraiser. In second, it’s the Ronald McDonald Plane Pull. Did your team lose? Get a 747 ASAP and start practicing for next year. Historic Augusta’s Cotton Ball takes third.

Christmas Lights
They have millions of little twinklers out in the woods somewhere near Grovetown at Lights of the South (633 Louisville Rd.), your favorite display. Downtown Augusta and Hopelands Gardens (101 Dupree Pl.) in Aiken couldn’t be more different places, but they share the medals stand in second and third place.

Best Thing To Happen to Augusta
Readers showed their character by choosing a noble trio of best-worthy things. Thing one is the Kroc Center, a building apace as we speak and sure to serve the community well or countless years to come. Thing two has the most stories in Augusta and if you’re thinking Port Royal, you’re thinking too hard. The new library has the most stories. Thing three: the TEE Center, which should welcome many guests to our fair city.

Best Reason To Visit Columbia County
Lake Thurmond gets the nod here. If you’re not a lake person you can sometimes forget it’s there, and how close and convenient it is. We’re a fortunate place to have such an asset. Patriot’s Park, once in the middle of absolutely nowhere, somehow seems to be a lot more centrally located than it used to be. Shopping is your third-best reason for visiting Columbia County.

Best Reason To Visit Richmond County
Downtown Augusta wins, filled as it is with unique and unusual shops, one-of-a-kind eateries and inviting parks. In addition (in second), it’s home to a bevy of museums and cultural attractions: the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, the Augusta Canal Interpretive Center, the Morris Museum of Art, Lucy Craft Laney  Museum of Black History and the Augusta Museum of History, plus (in third) performance venues like the Imperial Theatre Bell Auditorium and James Brown Arena and (hopefully soon) the Miller Theater, where arts performances abound all year, especially during the Westobou Festival.

Historic Landmark
People have loved Sacred Heart Cultural Center (1301 Greene St.) for a hundred years. It’s a monumental piece of architecture and your favorite. President Woodrow Wilson’s Boyhood Home (419 Seventh St.) is runner-up, kind of like Teddy Roosevelt was in the election of 1912. Sibley Mill (1717 Goodrich St.) and its soaring brick tower wins third place.

Hot Local Issue
What will it be this year? Trains crawling around during rush hour, blocking traffic? The Confederate flag at Riverwalk? No free Masters badges for Augusta residents? Turns out it’s the TEE Center, the very same project that voters said was Top Three in things to happen to Augusta. Where our baseball stadium will be—or stay—takes second (base). Over at third, Save The Patch. Could the venerable course be closed and sold by the city? Stay tuned.

New Civic Project
Literally billions of dollars in brand new construction are sprinkled across the CSRA: St. Sebastian Way, the completed I-20 widening project and MCG’s new dental school come to mind. So does the Kroc Center, which topped the ballots, followed by the TEE Center and downtown’s brand spanking new headquarters library.

Local Celebrity
So you think you can vote, do you? You can and you chose quite well, avoiding a major family squabble. You see, the first place votes are a dead heat between Augusta native Josh Kelley and his younger brother Charles. Crisis averted. Josh is a musician noted for hit songs like “Amazing” and “Only You” and is married to actress Katherine Heigl. His brother Charles, no slouch himself, is half of the Antebellum portion of the extremely successful country music trio Lady Antebellum. So You Think You Can Dance finalist Kathryn McCormick takes second place all by herself. Rounding out the category: the one and only Austin Rhodes. We do have some celebritays, do we not?