NOCO named Best Neighborhood Blog in St. Louis
Shannon Howard | Jan 25, 2011 | Comments 25
Well, the results are in and I’m proud to say that NOCO has been named Best Neighborhood Blog by the Riverfront Times. It was up against four other great websites – from Cherokee Street, the Loop, Downtown St. Louis and Tower Grove East – but in the end, North County got the win. Hooray!
Of course, I’m a little disappointed with the judges’ spin on things, mainly that they had to take a dig at North County itself, saying: “What’s true of all the nominees other than north county? They’re all hip places to live. North county is not — but thanks to nocostl.com, it does have a hip blog.”
I appreciate the personal compliment, sure, but I have to wonder….how does somebody write a “hip” neighborhood blog if there aren’t hip things happening in the neighborhood?? If you click over to the full RFT write-up, you may also notice two other unsavory details: One, my big ol’ head. Yikes. And two, the fact that NOCO gets hate mail.
I’ve tried to keep this second fact under wraps for the past year, not wanting it to distract from my positive mission, but the truth is I’ve gotten some very nasty letters from some clearly disturbed people. And unfortunately, I happened to get a particularly vicious one right before my interview with the RFT, so my mood was kinda sour.
I’ll spare you the actual dirt – why spread it? But I will say that obviously there are some folks in St. Louis who cannot own up to their role in North County’s changing landscape over the past few decades, choosing instead to blame everything on black people.
To them, I say GLAD YOU’RE GONE and please don’t bother reading my website. Because NOCO is about North County today and all the positive things that are happening here now. And yes, some of those things are actually pretty hip!
So thank you, RFT, for this great award! I truly appreciate it! Hopefully it will remind St. Louisans that there are many worthy treasures in this vast and vibrant patchwork of communities known as North County…
Filed Under: Community
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K
Way to go Shannon! Congrats xx
Just read the rft and checked out your site. Great job. Will be back soon to check out more of your work.
It’s just too bad that RFT’s sister in K.C. is such a pos, but thankfully I get to read the STL version every week. It almost makes me want to move 300 miles east.
Cheers and forget the haters. They’re sad.
Philmo in K.C.
SO excited! This is awesome. Congrats.
No. You know what? I’m not going to just ignore that second part about the hate mail. That bullshit really does make me angry. I am a proud resident of North County and I love where I live. And you know what else? There are thousands more like me who love it too.
The logo of the RFT’s web awards really sums up what St. Louis is all about. It’s the “clique” mentality of so many residents that has caused such a huge divide in our metro area. And I for one am sick of it. I’m sick of defending my choice of neighborhood to people who make assumptions about where I live.
Kudos to NOCO for breaking through into the blogger “clique” that is the STL social media scene and shame on the RFT for their comments.
Way to go! I have lived in NOCO all my life and I am so excited about how far NOCO (especially Ferguson) has come. It’s great to have a blog to highlight all the wonderful things that are happening in our town. Keep up the great work.
Congrats to NOCO!!! Many of us choose to live here for reasons that NOCO continually publishes. I moved to North County from St. Charles. Not once have I looked back! I feel more at home in this diverse area than I ever felt before. There are endless opportunities for family fun, county-wide projects, city-specific endeavors, and community events. Congratulations Shannon – you have been instrumental in sharing our success stories with folks in and around NOCO!!!!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Annie Haarmann, Annie Haarmann. Annie Haarmann said: Yeah! NoCoSTL voted RFT best neighborhood blog. http://nocostl.com/2011/01/noco-named-best-neighborhood-blog-in-st-louis/ [...]
Congrats and oh my gosh that headshot pic is HUGE. Your mention of it made me giggle.
I love Ferguson, I hit the Farmer’s Market all summer long.
Awesome, Shannon! So cool! And btw, I like the photo. I think you look very “hip.”
I am so excited for you! What a great accomplishment–keep up the great job!
Nice photo, by the way
Congrats!! Well deserved.
I recently read a snarky review of a very good restaurant – published instead of a positive review by a friend. it seems pieces with jobs and digs is what people publish these days. What they don’t realize is controversy is not attractive when it is not uncalled for. Perhaps if we ignore those they will grow up and/or go away. Glad to see your BLOG and congrats on your award!
Congratulations on the award! We’re moving to NoCo soon and I’ve enjoyed reading your blog to find out about all the things waiting for us there. We’re excited! Thanks!
Thanks everyone! Very much appreciated!!
Mary, as you may have guessed, that photo is from last year. (My hair’s longer now). The RFT needed a pic at the last minute and that was all I had. But hey, it works!
Annie – you are so right about the “clique” reference! I sometimes wonder how St. Louis can expect to prosper and attract new residents when so many of the existing residents are so closed-minded. Even the ones who claim to be cool.
Debby – thank you! And welcome to North County!
Love what you’re doing on your blog and love your enthusiasm for NOCO. It’s so sad that people who grew up here were so quick to abandon the area and now choose to disparage it from their glass houses in St Charles county. I think in some weird way it helps them justify their decision.
Keep up the great work
Congrats Shannon, Please keep up the hard work. Kick ass award, rft, whats next?
Congratulations Shannon! Great job of highlighting all of the wonderful assets in North County – neighborhoods, things to do and places to visit, fascinating and talented citizens. Job well done! Thanks and best wishes for continued success.
Wow, so many nice comments! Thank you, everyone!!! And Councilwoman Erby, thank YOU for your work on behalf of North County!
I am excited about what you’re doing. I grew up in St. Charles, moved out of state after college and was lured back to St. Louis by my family – and – I didn’t choose (specifically) to live in North County (long story). But I’ve been here 6 years and unless money became “no object” all of a sudden, I can’t think of where I would rather live in St. Louis. It took me almost 5 (of the 6) years to realize that. I am happy to own my home here.
Your endeavor hit me in my gut and I love that you actually have local advertisers buying in. I will be frequenting as many of them as I can.
Well deserved-congratulations Shannon! So true that many St. Charles and Franklin County transients are only justifying their decisions for moving out. It’s so sad that a city as great as St. Louis has to be so biased and divided. As to those who sent hate mail-I’m glad they are all gone also! We don’t need such closed minded folks in NOCO! Please remember that for every nasty piece of hate mail you get from those negative people-there are at least 100 people out there that are proud of North County and what you have accomplished with the NOCO site!
Shannon way to go!!!!! NOCO is the place to be. My family have lived here for over 90 years. Please keep it up we need your voice spot lighting the the best in North County!
Thanks John!!
Great article!! Also I think this is a great website! Keep up the good work.
[...] year, NOCO was honored by the Riverfront Times as the Best Neighborhood Blog in St. Louis. This year, I’m thrilled to report that the honors were doubled! Not only was I asked to [...]