Every year, the Top Prop Awards cover shoot is an informal gathering of winners in categories voted upon by readers of this magazine. The “best of” categories range from Top Dentist to Top Place to be Pampered. (This year, we even added a category for Veterinary and Pet Services to honor our four-legged neighbors and their parents.) Readers vote for three months throughout the early fall. We then notify the winners and set up a location and shoot time with an open invitation to show up. No make-up artists or stylists. No “handlers.” We affectionately refer to it as our “Sergeant Pepper’s” cover.

This year, they (the winners) came in droves. With the highest turnout in its history, the 2008 Top Prop cover shoot attracted leaders from Airpark companies like Van Chevrolet, Animal Medical and Surgical Center, CrackerJax, Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak, Mexi-Tile, and even The Fairmont Scottsdale, the locale of the hip Stone Rose Lounge where the photo shoot took place. It was a huge crowd to photograph, but Valley photographer Wayne King did so with aplomb. King brings training from New York’s Institute of Photography and Santa Fe University to the Scottsdale market. He also brings a relaxed, charming professionalism to a photo shoot that makes everyone feel glad to be a part of his pictures.

Let’s all toast a new year with a sense of the possibility for the future of this big city/small town that we call home!