Cleveland County Best of the Best gala was held Thursday night at the LeGrand Center with winners announced in multiple categories. 

Participants from businesses around the county, which were voted as the best by members of the community, walked the red carpet, had their photo taken, took selfies with each other and enjoyed an evening celebrating their achievements.

Photos and certificates are given to each winner and a plaque will be sent to winning businesses.

Ruthie Brintley, with Truliant, said they were excited to be recognized and have been every year.

Categories included beauty and health, shopping, entertainment and leisure, top employers, services, dining and more.

Winners of the Best of the Best included Pleasant City Wood Fired Grille, for best all around restaurant, Alston Bridges BBQ for best BBQ, Hannah’s Coffee House for best coffee shop and K Nails Spa best nail salon, along with dozens of others.

Alan Norman, sheriff of Cleveland County, was chosen as the person of the year.

The event was not only an opportunity to celebrate, but a chance to use the nominations as leverage to help their businesses grow.

The evening’s guests were encouraged to use the hashtag #ClevelandBoB and post on social media.

Justin and Brandy Watts, owners of Justin Time Plumbing, which won best plumber of Cleveland County, said they were excited.

“This is our sixth or seventh year,” Brandy Watts said. “It’s good to be here again.”

They said they enjoyed the chance to relax for an evening and enjoy the company of other local business owners outside of the stress of work.

A special section will run in The Star on Oct. 30 featuring the winners.

In all, there were 148,000 votes cast from  6,000 unique voters.

A video was played featuring the many varieties of employers and businesses, from restaurants to pet grooming, it talked about “the makers, the doers, the helpers and the heroes. You make us what we are, which is a community and tonight we celebrate you.”