Best of the West 2026 Polling Is Live

The 2026 Best of the West Poll Is Open (and it’s the real write-in ballot)

Some “Best of” lists are curated. Ours isn’t.

Yellow Scene Magazine’s Best of the West is Boulder County’s only true Readers’ Poll — because it’s an open, write-in ballot. No drop-down menus. No prompts nudging you toward the usual suspects. Just you telling us, in your own words, who actually deserves the crown this year.

And yes, the 2026 Best of the West Poll is now open. You’ve got one month to vote.

What makes Best of the West different?

A couple things we have to say out loud, because the internet has made everything weird:

1) You don’t pay to “get on the list.”
We don’t sell placements, and we don’t stack the ballot. Our journalism standards apply across the board, including this poll. If a business wins, it’s because readers wrote them in, not because someone bought their way into a drop-down.

2) We don’t phone in the winners coverage.
When the votes are counted, we spend real time making sure each winner blurb reflects the actual locale that won and is interesting to our readers, not copy-pasted fluff. Best of the West is part community record and part local love letter.

How to vote (and how to get entered to win prizes)

Voting is simple:

Start voting now and you’ll be entered to win prizes from Yellow Scene.
You must complete at least 20% of the poll to qualify, so the ballot stays meaningful. FYI: Junk is tossed.
We do not sell your name to outside sources. Period.