Cream of the crop announced
May 16th, 2008, 12:35 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Kate
The Gazette released its annual Best of the Springs issue today, handing out awards to restaurants, shops, local media personalities, recreational events and more. The staff runs around town testing and comparing local offerings — yeah, I know, it’s a REALLY tough job — so our readers can have a handy-dandy, hand-held reference guide to the Pikes Peak Community. (Personally, I use Best of the Springs mostly for the food recommendations, which keep us eating somewhere new and unexpected at least once a month.)
In addition to being a time-saving guide, the Best of the Springs offers inspiration to try new things, branch out and get active, and it includes a whole section just for families. Here’s a sampling of the awards The Gazette handpicked just for us Pikes Peak Parents:
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Best Playground: Uncle Wilbur
www.smokebrush.org/unclewilber.htm
From Memorial to Labor Day weekends, this moving, spraying, musical piece of art on the southwest corner of Acacia Park attracts huge crowds of kids and plenty of screams. The contraption was designed, built and donated by the Smokebrush Foundation.
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Best New Family Attraction: iT’Z
3035 New Center Point, 623-1550
www.itzusa.com/colorado
iT’Z combines the high-end video games of Dave & Busters with the kind of thrill rides we miss from JoyRides, the carnival games of Manitou’s Arcade Amusements and an elaborate Golden Corral-style buffet. It’s sure to ensure fun for kids 5 to 17 and exhaustion for parents of all ages.
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Best Birthday Parties for the Active Set: ArtSports
780 Vondelpark Drive, 531-5867
www.artsportsworld.com
Sometimes, you need to pry those game controllers from your kids’ hands and get them bouncing. And nobody does the big bounce like ArtSports, home of the 100-foot-long, in-ground trampoline, promoted as the largest foam block pit in the country, and extreme swings and bungees that will get the kids feeling like Spider-Man.
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Best Out-of-This-World Adventure: Challenger Learning Center
10215 Lexington Drive, 598-9755
www.clccs.org
Step into Mission Control and you become the ultimate space geek. Challenger can simulate an entire space mission and stimulate your child’s intellect in new ways.
And there’s many more selections in the print publication (in your Gazette today) or online at www.gazette.com/bestof. You can also interact online by commenting on The Gazette staff’s selections, perhaps even suggesting your own substitutions.
