From The Editors

Two weeks ago, we announced that the polls were officially open for the first-ever Erie Reader Best Of Erie Awards. Less than two weeks later, the number of votes cast is rapidly nearing 120,000. With an average of more than 10,000 votes coming in per day, top vote-getters for many of the categories continue to change on an hourly basis.

In case you missed how we determined the Best Of Erie voting ballot, we kept it simple: We turned it over to you. 

If any one of our Reader readers nominated a person, place, or thing that was accurate and applicable to a specific category, it made the ballot. If it wasn't, it didn't qualify.

Come to find out that your favorite person, place, or thing isn't on the ballot for the Best of Erie 2014? That means that he/she/it wasn't  nominated. But don't worry, we'll be doing this again next year, so just make sure you get those nominations in then.

And in case you missed how to get in on the voting, we kept that simple, too. Head to ErieReader.com, click the Best Of Erie ad and then submit your name and email address. We won't spam you; rather, we'll send you an email confirmation to ensure you're a real, live human. Click the link in that email and you're on your way to voting. You can vote for as many or as few categories as you like at a given time, as your votes are recorded and updated as you go. Want to change your vote? You can — as long as you do it before we close the polls.

But you may have some other questions about our new Best Of Erie Awards, like: When will the Erie Reader announce the winners? Or what's this all leading up to?

We're glad you asked.

Our Oct. 15 issue of the Reader will include the top three vote-getters for each category after the polls close at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10. That means you still have more than four weeks to cast all your votes if you haven't yet. Then the day after that issue hits stands, we're throwing a party.

From 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, we're hosting our first-ever Best of Erie event: The Flavor of Erie Party at the Pilot House located at 1 Holland St. on Erie's Bayfront, where we'll announce all of the Best Of Erie winners. And you'll get a flavor of Erie's best food and music. 

For the evening's entertainment, we've lined up DJ Salt, C. Brown, and Falling Hollywood. For food, The Brewerie, Cloud 9, Jekyll & Hyde's, and Lavery Brewing Company will be on hand, dishing out their distinct cuisines and sampling their fine craft beer. In the coming weeks, we're looking to add even more to the list, so keep your eyes peeled and your stomachs ready.

One ticket covers your admission to the Best Of Erie Flavor Of Erie Party, gets you access to all the food, and gets you front-and-center to some of Erie's most talented performers. But we'll warn you now: There are a limited amount of tickets. They're only $10 in advance, and just $15 at the door, but we're recommending you don't wait that long, because once they're gone, they're gone. Details on how to get yours will be available online at ErieReader.com, so check there Wednesday, Sept. 17.  

So keep voting, Erie, keep supporting your favorite people, places, and things, and plan to party with us come Thursday, Oct. 16.