Best of Lawrence winners revealed at downtown celebration

Crowd members cheer as winners are named at the Best of Lawrence 2017 gala Thursday night at Abe and Jake’s Landing.

It was a big party to honor the best in Lawrence.

The winners gala for the 2017 Best of Lawrence contest attracted a record crowd of about 800 people to Abe & Jake’s Landing in Downtown Lawrence on Thursday.

Winners were revealed in more than 180 categories, including those honoring bars, restaurants, nonprofits, health care providers, retail stores and others. More than 8,800 people cast ballots during the one-month contest, which was produced by the Journal-World and Lawrence Magazine

A list of all the winners is online at bestoflawrence.com. A special magazine highlighting the winners, finalists and fun features about the community will be included in Sunday’s Journal-World.