What a year it has been! Athens and the world shut down the week after our 2020 Flagpole Athens Favorites issue was published. Luckily, Flagpole is still around and so are so many of Athens’ favorite businesses, and Flagpole is happy to be able to celebrate them in this issue. Congratulations to the winners and runners-up in over 90 categories. (A few of the regular categories are on hold this year due to the pandemic.)

Virtual thank-yous need to be given to the whole Flagpole staff who pulled this issue off from their own bubbles. Larry Tenner, Chris McNeal and Cody Robinson created the designs for the theme logo, cover, awards and ads. Our remote sales team of Anita Aubrey and Jessica Mangum did some spectacular, socially distant selling. Special thanks go out to Naoko Uno (read more about her on p. 25), our “bubble model,” who really embraced life in our 6-foot inflatable orb.

Thanks to Dorothy Kozlowski, who photographed our giant magical bubble, and to Whitley Carpenter for safely photographing a few of our winners. Finally, a big thanks to the 40 Watt Club for letting us use the space and dream of a time when bubbles won’t be necessary.

RESTAURANTS & BARS

RETAIL

MUSIC

PETS & KIDS

SERVICES

STUFF AROUND TOWN

Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.