Best of Sacramento 2015

Believe it or not, we usually hate picking bests. Ask us which movie is our all-time fave or what book we’d want stranded on an island with us, and our eyes widen with panic. It’s the same expression we have when standing frozen in the cereal aisle, faced with all those colorful boxes, or whenever someone asks us why we live in Sacramento.

You want just one reason? Outsider, please.

That’s what makes assembling these annual Best of Sacramento issues both daunting and easy-peasy: the 916 boasts a true wealth of superstar personalities and excellent lifestyle choices, including this year’s fashion-forward cover model, Kachet Jackson-Henderson (pictured) of The Lipstick Giraffe, and an Iraqi market that’s brought a taste of home to the area’s rich Middle Eastern community. We’ve got a champion track athlete who teaches and sings (or vice versa), rabble-rousers who keep us honest and an arts hub that gets you face-to-face with emerging international talent.

If you’re picking up on a theme, it’s that Sacramento’s vaunted diversity makes the 916 a microcosm for the world in which we live. It’s home to a rainbow coalition’s worth of people and interests. And that’s what we’re celebrating—a global perspective, told through the eyes of our friends and neighbors.

Time to exit the cereal aisle. We’re thinking outside the box.