Bakersfield Life

The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield

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The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield

And The Winner Is...

When The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield competition started back in July 2008, the staff at Bakersfield Life wondered who would come out on top of this March Madness type of contest. Just as in the NCAA tournament, Bakersfield has its own set of Dukes, North Carolinas and Kentuckys – the successful businesses that have been around seemingly forever like Wool Growers, Dewar’s and Luigi’s.

Then there are the upset-minded Villanovas and George Masons out there who are newer to the scene but ready to take on the dominance of the old-timers like Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, the Bakersfield Condors and Rabobank Arena.

Each month the intensity grew – and the vote totals went up – until we reached the Final Four: the Crystal Palace vs. Wool Growers and the Condors vs. Dewar’s. New vs. old.

And in the end, we found that Bakersfield still prefers tradition no matter how popular the Crystal Palace and the Condors are. But it doesn’t prefer tradition by much – Wool Growers won by 20 votes and Dewar’s won by just four.

That led to the grand finale, and what a finale it was. While the general public couldn’t watch the voting day-by-day, the Bakersfield Life staff could, and what it saw was Wool Growers soar out into a huge lead over the first weekend before Dewar’s slowly but surely climbed back before overtaking the Basque hotspot to earn the title of The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield with 65 percent of the vote.

“I can’t even explain how excited I am right now,” Dewar’s Owner Heather Dewar said upon hearing the news. “I’m absolutely thrilled!” The residents of Bakersfield voting Dewar’s as The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield couldn’t have come at a better time for the long-time ice cream and candy shop. In just a few months, Dewar’s will celebrate its 100th anniversary of being in business with a huge weekend extravaganza complete with bounce houses, animals and great deals on all of your favorite Dewar’s goodies.
“We’re targeting the spring, either late April or the first part of May,” Dewar said.

“It’s going to be a huge weekend celebration and we’re going to do a lot of promotional things tying into the 100 years. We have little teddy bears that say ‘Dewar’s – 100 years’ on them. And we might do things like ice cream cones for 100 pennies. We’re just going to tie into the 100-year idea as much as we can.” For Wool Growers, it’s unfortunately a case of just a little too little. It snuck by the final two rounds before reaching the final, beating Rabobank Arena by just 11 votes before getting by Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace by 20.

But despite not earning the title of The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield, the staff at Wool Growers and all of its fans can hold their heads high knowing that it was still voted the second greatest thing about Bakersfield.

But it’s Dewar’s moment in the sun for now and it won’t be stopping anytime soon. “I think it’s such a great honor no matter what, but Dewar’s being in business for 100 years on top of everyone in Bakersfield determining us to be the greatest thing about Bakersfield?

Nothing could be better. It just solidifies that Bakersfield remains loyal to long-time local businesses and that we must be doing something right to keep everyone coming back for more.” Just call 2009 the year of Dewar’s. Being named The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield just months before a 100-year anniversary?

Sounds about as good as a Black and White paired with a Peanut Butter Chew.

Congratulations Dewar’s!