We all like pretty things.

Received the Golden Fork Award certificates today and am pleased with how attractive they are. Printed on heavy stock with a glossy finish, they'd look very nice on a wall. Thanks again to everyone who voted for Stumpjack (and thanks for voting for all of your other favorite drinking & dining places too). We will continue to do everything we can to offer you the best service, events, food and drink possible. Your support and friendship is very much at the heart of this adventure. Thanks again.

THANK YOU!

Fox Cities Magazine Assistant Editor Alison Fiebig just emailed me to let me know that the official results of the Golden Fork Awards have been published on their website, and we are free to announce them. The Golden Fork Awards are the coveted "Best of" awards for northeast Wisconsin and are given out each year to dining and drinking establishments that have been voted to be "the best" in various categories by the public.

Given that they are awards based on votes one might want to take such kudos with a grain of salt, as they are in some ways popularity contests and wins may also be at least partially attributable to how well a place can rally its troops to get out and vote, so to speak. Nevertheless, in order to win people do need to vote for you and they do need to like what you do. Such affirmation is a huge compliment and ought to be humbly respected. One should be very grateful when people express their support for a place in that way.

We are indeed very grateful. Thank you, everyone who voted for Stumpjack, thank you so very much.

Stumpjack won in the following seven categories (more than any other contender!):

• Best Ambiance
• Best Live Entertainment
• Most Vegetarian Friendly
• Best Soup
• Best Sandwich
• Best Cafe
• Best Cup of Coffee

Our good friends at Courthouse Pub in Manitowoc also won in several categories (5 I think).

We'll get beautiful certificates for each category to frame and display, as well as bragging rights. But most of all we get the good feeling that there are people out there who like what we do. Thanks so much again.

"The most coveted dining award in NE WI!"

That would be the Golden Fork Award, that we've been talking about for the past couple weeks, and asking for your support in voting for Stumpjack in a few categories.

I was chatting with Alison Fiebig, Assistant Editor of Fox Cities Magazine, about the award and voting. She said that they've been getting a good number of ballots in, which is fantastic, but that some are only voting for one place and ignoring all others. That's ok, if that's how you really feel...that is, if you have only one place that you really like to eat or drink. But if you do have other places you like to go to please take a few extra seconds to type those in too. Your votes really do help small businesses to keep doing what they do. It provides much welcome affirmation and validation that they're on the right track, and believe me, that kind of feedback is very important and very much appreciated by any small business.

Alison's message: "We used to require that the ballot be 25% filled out (and not "stuffed" with votes for one particular establishment). We aren't enforcing it this year, in part to better promote the contest. All I can do is encourage you to have your regulars & supporters vote fairly & take an extra 30 seconds to nominate restaurants in other categories."

So please, check out the other day's blog post and vote for Stumpjack Coffee where you think we deserve it (for example, Best Coffee and Best Cafe), and for your other favorite dining establishments as well. Thanks a lot for your support.