Beachcombing – Best of LB

On the next page you will find a copy of our Best of Long Beach ballot. Please fill it in and return it to us by Feb. 27.

This popular contest is in its 25th year, with one ballot for service-related businesses printed in February and another ballot for product-related businesses in our July editions. Generally, the winners are repeated year after year, but in these wild and crazy economic times we see some businesses come and go.

The key to the contest’s success is our sponsors, who provide us with a dozen gift cards or certificates valued at $25 or more. The more sponsors we have, the more prizes are awarded.

After the votes are tallied, we draw the winners from those that contain at least 15 votes and have followed the contest rules.

In the early days the competition was intense, with some businesses stuffing the ballot box with votes that were exactly the same except for the participant’s name and address. Those ballots got tossed along with any that contained only one vote. Cheating is not permitted.

There’s an opportunity for small businesses to grow by being a sponsor. For example, if you have a hair salon, you could provide us with a dozen gift certificates for a haircut, which initiates a new customer relationship. Sometimes the recipient is happy with their current barber, so the certificate does not get used and you have not lost the cash value.

If you need copies of the current ballot, you can go online to https://beachcomber.news/content/best-long-beach-2026a-ballot. It can be filled out online, then printed and returned to us via mail, fax or email.

Hurry, there’s just seven days left.

Aso online we offer a poll on current affairs. The current one asked “Would you support a City of Long Beach property tax increase?” because the city was contemplating digging into your pocket to feed its “tax and spend” mentality. Thus far 90 percent said “no” and 10 percent said they love to throw away their money.

In a prior poll we asked what name readers preferred for the new minor league baseball team. The results – based on our own preferences – were LB Breakers (45%), LB Buoys (5%), LB Dockers (5%), LB Seadogs (45%) and LB Surfers (0%). This was before the Long Beach Baseball Club announced that they were going to use two names: Long Beach Coast and Long Beach Regulators.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why successful entities conduct market research, thus avoiding making major league mistakes and striking out.

Here are a few oldies but goodies for your amusement:

• A man’s home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
• Dijon vu – the same mustard as before.
• Practice safe eating – always use condiments.
• Shotgun wedding – A case of wife or death.
• A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.
• A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
• Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.
• Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
• Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.

publisher@beachcomber.news