Best of the Gulfshore

Champions walk among us when PGA greats meet on Gulfshore greens to golf it out in the ACE Group Classic. A few miles-and a world-away, homegrown swamp buggies tear up the tracks for cheering crowds. And some 10,000 fans watch high-school hoop dreamers compete in the 33-year-old City of Palms Basketball Classic.

Best Local Performing

Arts Group

Philharmonic Orchestra (Naples)

Finalists: Florida Repertory Theatre

(Fort Myers), Naples Players (Naples)

The talented members of Naples' Philharmonic make beautiful music together. Fort Myers' Florida Rep, a professional company, puts on a full season of shows at the wonderful old Arcade, a longtime local landmark, and the Naples Players mount community theater productions at downtown's impressive Sugden Theatre.

Best Black-Tie Event

Magnolia Ball (Naples)

Finalists: FGCU Renaissance Ball (Estero); Lee County Heart Ball (Fort Myers)

The white-tie Magnolia Ball, an over-the-top evening of Southern gentility, funds oncology programs and equipment at NCH Regional Cancer Institute's Lutgert Cancer Pavilions. FGCU's Renaissance Ball re-creates an entire medieval village, and the Lee County Heart Ball is one of Fort Myers' most glam parties.

Best Tourist Attraction

Naples Pier (Naples)

Finalists: Edison & Ford Winter Estates (Fort Myers), Shell Factory (North

Fort Myers)

With all our cosmopolitan attractions, it's the homey, hometown ones that visitors most often appreciate: the 100-plus-year-old Naples Pier, the historic Edison & Ford Winter Estates and the Old Florida feel of the ever-expanding Shell Factory.

Best Festival

Naples Winter Wine Festival

Finalists: Edison Parade of Lights Festival (Fort Myers), Everglades City Seafood Festival

A three-day bacchanalia of food and wine royalty and visiting celebrities, all to benefit area children, the Naples Winter Wine Festival is the world's top charity wine event. The whole town turns out for Fort Myers' Edison Parade of Lights, and smoked mullet and fried grouper star at the Everglades City Seafood Festival.

Best Local Power Couple

Simone and Scott Lutgert (Naples)

Finalists: Ellin Goetz and Mike Watkins (Naples), Lou and Steve Pontius

(Fort Myers)

In a town with more power couples than palm trees, the Lutgerts stand out for business and philanthropy success (under his gavel, this year's Naples Winter Wine Festival passed the $11 million mark). Other heavy-hitters: landscape architect Ellin Goetz and husband Mike Watkins, owner of the Naples Beach Hotel; and Lee County's super-philanthropists, Lou and Steve Pontius.

Best Place to See

Beautiful People

The countless local charities that attract selfless volunteers

Finalists: Aja (Bonita Springs), downtown Naples

Gorgeous folks flock to the boutiques and cafés of Third Street South and Fifth Avenue South, and the 20-somethings hanging out at Aja make Bonita Springs look like The O.C. But it's those tireless volunteers-reading to kids, running errands for Hospice patients and so much more-who are the most beautiful of all.

Best Local Story of 2004

How the Gulfshore came together after Hurricane Charley

Finalists: Naples Winter Wine Festival's record-breaking auction, Southwest Florida International Airport expansion

The national story was all about Hurricane Charley's devastation, but the news that mattered was the way the region rose to the challenge of rebuilding, from volunteers pounding roofs in Pine Island to businesses providing ice and food to devastated neighborhoods. That eclipsed even the Southwest Florida International Airport expansion and the amazing philanthropy of the wine festival.

Best Thing That Could

Happen Here

Adding more lanes to I-75

Finalists: Getting a Nordstrom,

public acquisition of Babcock Ranch

Actually, they are adding more lanes to I-75. But could we have them now, please-not after more years of misery? And some flying vehicles to beat in-season traffic? More in the realm of reality, vocal shoppers are lobbying for that Nordstrom, and there's mounting momentum to save the ranch.

Insider Picks

Best Fishing Spot

There's a reason why Randy Wayne White is so convincing when he describes life on Sanibel Island waters in his best-selling Doc Ford mystery-adventure series. For 15 years, he was a fishing guide working Sanibel's Tarpon Bay. "I ran thousands of charters out there," he says. "I found an idle-only zone where the bird life is fabulous and there are a lot of manatees. I caught my first sea trout, red fish and tarpon on fly-rod there, so it's dear to me." But no, he won't draw us a map.

Best Power Lunch

A devoted power-luncher for obvious reasons, Naples Mayor Bill Barnett has two favorites in his city. One is St. George and the Dragon on Fifth Avenue South. It not only attracts the power crowd, he says, but "it's very dark," important "if you don't want to be seen." For when it's all about seeing and being seen, he recommends Vergina, where the tables are right out on the sidewalk. "The food is good at both places," he says, "and you can get in and out fast-that's important."

Best Local Building

For Matthew Kragh, president of the American Institute of Architects' Southwest Florida chapter, the choice is clear. Like many other architects, he says, he considers Port Royal's Neugebauer House, by famed modern architect Richard Meier, a Southwest Florida standout. "It's a slap in the face to [the Mediterranean style] that is quickly becoming the vernacular of Southwest Florida," says Kragh. Instead, this modern classic pays homage to the semi-tropics: "Its inverted roof opens up views of the sun and water and the mangroves nearby. It really seems to fit in."

Best Place for a First Date

As the owner of It's Just Lunch, a dating service that sets professionals up for lunch (lower expectations and commitment than a full-fledged evening of drinks and dinner), Lynne Adams knows the right restaurant can help calm first-date jitters. She often advises her to clients to meet at Blue Pointe Oyster Bar in the Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers. "They love the food, and they love the privacy," she says. "They have an outside area for eating, it's open, and the tables are nicely situated."

Best Golf Course

For Naples-based Golf Channel analyst Mark Lye, courses don't get any sweeter than Naples' ultra-exclusive 250-member Old Collier Golf Club. "It's so close to town yet the land is pristine", says Lyle. "There's a lot of movement, which means they moved a lot of dirt; there's a lot of sand and a lot of natural lakes. Yesterday I was on the course, and there was an eagle out there. It's just the best piece of land." While membership is by invitation only, members' guests are welcome, so choose your friends wisely.