Maysville Kentucky Blog

Maysville Kentucky as a small town often overlooks its presence on the web as important, despite the fact that the web is the first impression of Maysville most people outside of our area sees. That's why last year we introduced the Maysville Kentucky Webby Awards, a knockoff of the official Webby Awards honoring excellence on the Internet. This year we are continuing with this tradition of recognizing outstanding local websites, and have added a few more categories.

The criteria for being considered for a Maysville Kentucky Webby Award is that the website must either be owned and operated locally or directly service the Maysville/Mason County local area. Websites that are part of a national organization but aren't represented by an independent local website aren't included in the competition (for example BellSouth). The website also cannot be owned by the judges or their family (so I left off, among other things, my personal website and this blog). The criteria used in judging first looks at content, then importance, and finally design. It's also based largely on how the business or organization uses the website. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list of all the local area websites, just the ones that stood out in 2006.

Now that the rules are laid out, let's check out the 2006 Maysville Webby Award winners!

Magee's Bakery
New to the web this year is Magee's Bakery. Magee's Bakery is without doubt the best local online store. This isn't just for their wide assortment of baked goods that you can order at the site - including their famous transparent tarts (a favorite of George Clooney) - but also for the tons of other information they provide. Have you ever heard of a "Bakery Farm TV"? These are YouTube videos filmed at the Magee's Bakery. Now that's using a website! Magee's is definitely the most interesting online store of the local area.
http://www.mageesbakeryfarm.com

Bob's Blah Blog
Some of the best blogs in the world don't pull any punches when dishing out opinion and neither does local man Robert Roe in his Bob's Blah Blog. I personally agree with very little of what he has to say, but for the way he says it, he gets the 2006 Maysville Webby Award for best blog. Although Roe has been a political commentator for some time, his blog arrived on the scene just this year. Welcome to the blogosphere!
http://bobsblahblog.blogspot.com/

City of Maysville
Although several new tourism-based websites arrived on the scene this year (including the Washington Kentucky website among others), the City of Maysville website has remained the most up-to-date resource on tourism related information throughout 2006. When looking for information on local tourism attractions and events, it's often the first place you should look.
http://www.cityofmaysville.com

Ledger Independent
You might think this one is a gimme, but there are actually several local news sources available in Maysville Kentucky, including radio along with online sources. The Ledger Independent website has consistently stood above the others, providing an almost mirror of their daily newspaper. It probably helps that the Ledger Independent's parent company is majority-owner of TownNews.com, a leading provider of content management systems for online newspapers. Recent improvements to their website have included video news from the Associated Press.
http://www.maysville-online.com

Maysville KY BBS
During the November elections, Maysville KY BBS provided an outlet for the local community to meet candidates running for a wide variety of positions. Candidates were able to respond directly to concerns of private individuals and users in turn were able to meet the candidates, something that may have been difficult in a traditional forum. Although other media outlets provided some election coverage, Maysville KY BBS was the most interactive.
http://www.maysvillekybbs.com

Big Rock Off Road Park
Big Rock Off Road Park is one of area's more interesting attractions, offering nearly 2,000 acres of ATV and dirtbike trails. They also have the best website for local attractions. Paradize Breeze's website was a close second, but part of the criteria for the Webby Awards is how a group uses their website. The folks at Big Rock consistently provide updates including such timely information as weather and trail conditions.
http://www.bigrockoffroadpark.com/

First Presbyterian Church
For a city filled with so many churches, there are surprisingly few that maintain a web presence. Of the ones that do, Maysville's First Presbyterian Church really stands out. It's designed to match the metaphor of a Bible, but also provides a wealth of information about the church. The only thing they are missing (hint, hint) is a page about the history of the church building, since it is one of Maysville's oldest.
http://www.1st-presbyterian-maysville.com

Herb Farm @ Strodes Run
Maysville Kentucky is largely an agricultural town but no agritourism based group utilizes the web like the Herb Farm @ Strodes Run. Always up-to-date with new information, the website provides a sneak peak into their 4,000 square foot herb barn and 220 acres of organic farm land. For their excellence this past year, they were also voted Best of Maysville, Kentucky, by VacationCruz.com (link). That's pretty cool, and at least as far as the best in agricultural websites go, we agree.
http://www.strodesrun.com/

Courtside With Danny Weddle
There are several sources for local sports online but Weddle's blog stands out because of the sheer dedication he has in posting local area game scores and schedules. No other source is all about local sports, all the time, either. For this specialization and dedication, the 2006 Maysville Webby Award for sports goes to the Courtside With Danny Weddle blog. As another new blog that arrived this year, welcome to the blogosphere!
http://courtsidewithdannyweddle.blogspot.com/

Ohio River Valley Artists Guild
If you are looking for local artists, look no further. The Ohio River Valley Artists Guild is a collaboration of local artists and in the past year they have been showcasing a number of pieces at their website. Rather than singling out a particular artist for this category, this year the Webby Award for best art website goes to the entire group.
http://www.orvag.org/