CULT BEST OF MTL

And the city has spoken.

Over the past four months, Cult MTL readers and other citizens invested in civic pride voted for their favourite Montreal things in the annual Best of MTL poll.

When voting began back in early February, we of course didn’t foresee the citywide shutdown that was coming in mid-March. The last two months of voting happened while most of us were in lockdown, and given the fact that so many local businesses were closed, and so many local artists were inactive (at least publicly), filling out the survey was a bittersweet. The voting period was extended as this issue was held back by a month so that we could print and distribute it as we normally do.

Cult MTL produced two consecutive online-only issues, in April and May, and while we’re very proud of those issues, which contained exclusively free advertising, it’s nice to be back in print. More importantly, with the city gradually reopening — but so much activity still on hold, and so many still in isolation and quarantine — it’s imperative to salute the artists, promoters, organizers, reporters, restaurateurs and retailers who keep Montreal’s heart beating, even in partial stasis.

As always, the Best of MTL poll is open and democratic, with no editorial influence or interference. We are always glad to see so many people make an event of voting via social media campaigns, and while we can’t resist sharing third-party getout-the-vote tweets, we otherwise remain neutral during the polling period.

Ballot-stuffing is automatically weeded out by our survey software, but we must admit that we appreciate joke votes — it’s nice to get a few laughs in during the painstaking tabulation process. This year there were votes for chef/TV personality/ rapper Dino Babydoll Luciano, columnist and social media personality Murphy Cooper and comedian/radio host Julian Bernatchez in way too many categories, along with griping about everything from the length of the poll to the fact that we’d dare suggest that there are politicians who aren’t evil (ie. the Best Politician category, which is open to interpretation by the way).

Cult MTL has been running the Best of MTL readers poll for eight years, but it bears mentioning that the survey follows in the decades-old tradition established by the city’s defunct but fondly remembered alt-weekly newspaper the Mirror. Respect.

Along with the expanded Top 10 lists in every category (coming to cultmtl.com in the coming days), our website will feature a number of Best of MTL articles through the month of June and beyond.

We thank everyone who voted and promoted the poll. Participation continues to grow every year, making the 2020 results more representative of the city than ever.

(Anglos, if you’re wondering why you don’t recognize some names in these lists, it’s because the other 70 per cent of the population is now voting in a bilingual poll. Francos, désolé, les résultats sont unilingue.)

To all the winners in the following 150+ categories: congratulations.

More than ever, we’re proud to bring you the Best of MTL