Arts+Entertainment

Talk about loyalty. If Vermont doesn’t acquire more really good clubs, musicians, galleries and so on, certain people and places could very well go on winning every single year forever. Or at least as long as we continue to hand out Daysies. It’s not that they aren’t deserving. So, for their seventh Daysies, give a big hand to Higher Ground (Best Live Music Venue); Club Metronome (Best Dance Club); Chris Bohjalian (Best Fiction Writer); the Firehouse Gallery (Best Art Gallery); Frog Hollow (Coolest Craft Gallery); and the town of Stowe (Best Weekend Getaway in Vermont). We’re still wondering where Stowe residents go to get away. Maybe up the road to the new Stowe Mountain Lodge, which came in second? Or maybe they blow off steam at the Rusty Nail, which won “Best Dance Club Outside Chittenden County.” In other words, they don’t really leave town.

Seven Days readers are still besties with the Shelburne Museum, while ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center is a perennial second choice. The latter came out on top, though, in a new-this-year category: Best Place to Take Your Kids.” Another Shelburne institution, the Farms, was runner-up. Must be that animal magnetism.

The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival returned to first place after last year’s upset by the (now second place) Vermont Brewers Fest. Similarly, Stowe Mountain reasserted itself as the superlative snow slope after a brief tumble; last year’s winner, Sugarbush, slid into second. Shelburne’s Kwiniaska came back as Best Public Golf Course” — fore! — nudging out Williston. Those who just like to watch have reaffirmed the long winning streak of Merrill’s Roxy as Best Movie Theater, while suburbanites put Williston’s Majestic 10 in second place.

Speaking of loyalty, Grace Potter has collected a bouquet of Daysies for Best Vocalist, though the runner-up got a new name this year: Myra Flynn, Burlington’s soulful young chanteuse. For the last few years, Seven Days readers have flip-flopped between Gordon Stone and Dave Grippo as Best Instrumentalist, and this year the former, a banjo and pedal steel player extraordinaire, came in first. Maybe that augurs well for Stone’s brand-new album, Night Shade.

Voters are not nearly so decisive when it comes to Best Unsigned Vermont Band. This year we have an unprecedented three-way tie. Yes, three. And they are Lowell Thompson & Crown Pilot, the Dirty Blondes and Michetti (named for its sizzling guitarist, Chris Michetti, formerly of Raq). It’s an eclectic lineup — alt-country, punk and hard rock, respectively — and we think they should all go on tour together. During the stage changes, number-one DJ A-Dog could keep the party going.

Congrats to the lot.

— Pamela Polston