When Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay launched in 1990, I was five years old. Sandy Freedman was mayor of Tampa, while another Tampeño, Bob Martinez, lived 465 miles away in the governor’s mansion. Zooming out, inflation was at 5.4%, and the ratio of CEO pay to the average worker’s was 74-to-1. Back then, readers walked their Best Of ballots into our office, and staffers counted them by hand.

These days, I have an almost-five-year-old of my own. Tampa still has a lady leading the way, and a Republican continues to call the shots in Tallahassee. Inflation’s down to 2.5% (did Joe Biden do that?), but the ratio of CEO pay to the average worker’s has skyrocketed to 196-to-1. Around the office, Best Of votes are cast online. Hell, there are even two Critics Picks awards that involve robots serving food.

That’s all to say that a lot has changed. But in many ways, the spirit of Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay awards hasn’t.

Outside of spellcheck and that ballot, there weren’t many robots directly involved in the production of this issue. Mostly—like it’s been for more than three decades now—the heart of what makes Best of the Bay mostly involves you, the readers, the raconteurs, the people who are really, really, really pouring what looks like every ounce of themselves into the thing they care about. The ideas you bring to life with your hard work, and the love you have for your craft and community, is still what we come together to celebrate each year.

In 2024, Creative Loafing readers—your friends, neighbors, customers, admirers and haters—voted in 469 categories. Our paper’s staff and contributors came up with 175 Staff Picks.

That’s a whole lot of love, and as this publication careens towards yet another Best of the Bay party, there still aren’t a lot of words to fully capture how much Creative Loafing loves and appreciates anyone reading this right now. Instead, we give you this big ass issue of all the best things Tampa Bay has to offer. It’s your hard work, and ours, too. Welcome to Best of the Bay 2024—we’re so grateful to be here with you again.—Ray Roa

Winner: Christopher Gorman
Finalists: Aron Bryce, Yadaira Rivera-Reyes

Living near the water is a way of life that gets under your skin. And if you’ve been lucky enough to experience the thrill of wind filling your sails as you cut effortlessly through the water, you’ll understand why sailing has captivated generations since Homer’s “Odyssey.” A committed group of local seafaring women meet for both fun and competition at the newly renovated pram shed at the Dunedin Marina. They race in the intracoastal waters of St. Joseph Sound most Thursdays to prepare for competitions with other sailing groups from around the state in regattas. While some members are middle-aged, these are strong Boomer women who span many decades. They also never miss a chance to dress up; a recent Halloween featured a flamboyance of pink, feathery flamingos as well as many variations on the Barbie revival. windlasses.org —Jon Palmer Claridge

Sisyphus, a deviant tyrant in Greek mythology, was punished by the gods to spend eternity rolling an immense boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back again. So in modern culture, that classical reference has been linked to tasks both futile and laborious. But Elizabeth Brincklow, despite being the daughter of a beloved Dunedin teacher who taught generations of students classical arts and ideas, somehow got a bug in her ear that her Dunedin hometown needs a professional theater complex. She came back to town from New York City to marry Zeke in the ‘80s and they’ve both been fully immersed in local art and politics since. Now, they’ve assembled a team of donors, developers and supporters and are close to having the funds for a feasibility study as a first step toward this marvelous dream.
dunedinpublictheater.org —Jon Palmer Claridge

Winner: Dunedin
Finalists: Gulfport, Pass-a-Grille

The last of the WMNF founders to host a regular show signed off in May and headed for Chicago (with intentions of returning at some point as a snowbird). Dilley commandeered the Morning Show on Friday for 45 years. Along the way, his program evolved from a focus on singer/songwriters in the early days, to a wildly eclectic three hours that left no genre unturned. Dilley eschewed the interminable between-sets patter that some of the MNF jocks indulged in. He was a pro in a volunteer environment. Dilley meticulously prepared his shows for flow and coherence, and sprinkled in heaps of musical surprises. He simply loved turning listeners on to shit they’d never heard before. And not for nothin’, Cam is just a really good guy. Come back and guest DJ, friend. —Eric Snider