All of us at Alpine Shop are big fans of Terrain Magazine. For the past eight years, Terrain has helped bring the message of how great outdoor life can be Missouri and across the Midwest. We've even been on the back cover since the publication started back in 2014.

Terrain is inviting its readers to participate in its 2023 Readers' Choice Awards Survey, with questions ranging from Best Trail Running Event and Best Coffee Store. Seriously, there are like 47 different topics you can weigh in on.

As a store that has dedicated its existence to getting generations of people to discover the transformative power of simply getting outside, we are well aware these last couple of years have been difficult to maintain the type of community-based events and get togethers that we have always prided ourselves on hosting. However, we have been encouraged by the sheer number of people that have taken to our area parks, trails, bike paths and rivers as a refuge from everything that has come our way since the pandemic. And we've been buoyed up by the newcomers coming through our doors looking for the help we love to give.

With that said, we hope we've earned a spot or two on your ballot. We won't ask for you to vote for us as Best Outdoor Store (since we're already a Hall of Fame member) but maybe Best Midwest Outdoor Brand, or Best Trail Running Event (Trail Run Series, maybe?) or even Best Gravel Biking Event (Tour of Hermann Gravel Challenge!). We've even won twice for best Outdoor Store Employee. As always, we sincerely appreciate your votes.

And if, for any reason, you feel we haven't lived up to our – or more importantly YOUR – standards, we would love to hear your thoughts on how we can improve.

Thanks again for your consideration and we hope to see you in one of our stores soon!