Tag Archives: awards

The Triffid Ranch in the news

Hard-copy Dallas Morning News readers saw the Best In DFW Awards listings first, and online readers have to be subscribers to see the listings, but Dallas’s pretty much only carnivorous plant gallery had a singular entry this morning. Specifically, the Texas Triffid Ranch ranked Silver in the “Best Immersive Experience” award, going well with last year’s Bronze for “Best Art Gallery”:

Very seriously, many, many thanks to everyone who voted and who thought the Triffid Ranch worthy of inclusion, and I stand in gratitude alongside the other winners (including our famed goth club Panoptikon, which won Gold for “Best Night Club”). I only hope the ongoing work on the gallery makes it worthy of the award, and just watch out for 2023.

EDIT: The Best In DFW site is no longer subscription-only, and the winners are listed in alphabetical order. Interestingly, the print edition has updated contact information, but the Web site associated apparently hasn’t been updated since 2016. And so it goes.

“Vote Now Space Cowboy…”

As mentioned with the nominations for the Dallas Morning News Best of DFW Awards last week, it’s awards season in the Dallas area. The big surprise this week is that the Texas Triffid Ranch was just nominated for the Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards 2022, under “Best Garden Center” in the Shopping & Services section. (The Triffid Ranch is much more of an art gallery than a garden center, much to the consternation of boomers who leave upset that it isn’t an actual ranch, but I’m not complaining.) Not that this is a complete first (the Triffid Ranch won “Best Little Shop of Horrors” in 2017), but it’s a new decade, a newly updated gallery, and a host who has a new hair color, and this is the first time the gallery has been nominated for open voting by the strange and terrible mutants of the Dallas area. Voting is open every day until September, just in time to come around for the big seventh anniversary open house on August 27, so do what thou wilt, and here’s hoping for a plaque at the annual Best of Dallas Awards ceremony. Not bad for Dallas’s pretty much only carnivorous plant gallery, eh?

Awards Season Is Nigh

Well, it’s that time of the year: the beginnings of regional awards season. Between now and the end of November, Dallas newspapers both daily and weekly, magazines, and Web sites all rush to process nominations and awards finalists for their views of what makes Dallas and immediate environs so interesting. Right now, the Best of Big D Awards at D magazine are being announced tonight, and the Dallas Observer Best of Dallas Awards haven’t even opened up to nominees yet, so smack between the two is the Dallas Morning News Best In DFW Awards.

Thanks to the efforts from previous visitors and cohorts, it was quite the surprise to discover that the Texas Triffid Ranch was nominated for not one but three categories. (The Triffid Ranch made bronze in the “Best Art Gallery” listing in 2021, which was enough of a surprise.) These include Family Attraction, Adventure Within a Day’s Drive, and Immersive Experience, and there may be others that I can’t find yet. Many thanks to those who nominated the gallery, and further thanks to everyone who chooses to vote for the finalists. One ballot per email address can be made each day, so feel free to go berserk, and voting is open until August 26. And if you aren’t sure, feel free to come out to the August gallery open houses to see for yourself.

“Hands up: who likes me?”

Far be it for me to steal a byline from the local writer best known as “The James Lipton of Fandom,” but the 2021 Best in DFW Reader’s Choice Awards were announced today, and the Triffid Ranch won Bronze in “Best Art Gallery.” Many thanks to everyone who voted, and I promise not to let this honor go to my head.