Best of Burnett 2021 winners revealed - full list
From the most popular cafe and hairdresser to the best place in town to grab a cocktail, this is the ultimate list of Burnett winners for the year – as voted by you, our readers.
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From the region’s most popular cafe to the best salon to have your hair done, this is the ultimate list of winners from the Best of Burnett series this year.
See the full list of reader favourites below:
BEST HAIRDRESSER
Readers voted Ebony Smith as the region’s best hairdresser, who has earned a faithful string of regulars who trust her with their locks.
Born and raised in Nanango, Ms Smith followed her dream of becoming a hairdresser to Toowoomba before returning home six years ago to buy HairDo4U salon while she was still an apprentice.
“I’ve had a lot of hurdles along the way and I’ve learnt to be strong. At the end of the day it’s my name, so I want to keep that good reputation,” she said.
BEST CAFE
When Shaun and Helen Walker opened The Coffee Bar 4605 in Murgon four years ago, they wanted to create a place where the Murgon and Cherbourg communities could come together for a good feed and chat.
The beloved cafe has since been established as a firm favourite, and was voted best in the region by our readers.
“I have no doubt when we bought it we would have had some people going ‘they don’t know what they’re doing, they’ve never had any experience’,” Mr Walker said.
“It just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it.”
BEST BARTENDER
Cassie Daley had only just started up at Gayndah’s Golden Orange Hotel Motel when she was voted best bartender.
She said she’d fallen in love with the citrus capital after moving to the area 10 years ago.
“I've really gotten to know the community and appreciate seeing the people who come through,” Ms Daley said.
BEST SPORTS COACH
The top pick for this years best sports coach went to Ged Laherty, who stepped up to the task of training the U10 Nanango Stags when his son Beau’s team needed a coach.
Mr Laherty kicked off his own footy years in the Stags U6 team and played through to U18s.
He said he now loved nothing more than to watch the next generation fall in love with the sport on a Saturday morning as he did years ago.
“Saturdays are always a good day with the kids. All they want to do is play football, so I just love watching them play,” Mr Laherty said.
SOUTH BURNETT BEST TEACHER
The title of South Burnett’s best teacher was taken out by Sharon Newman from Taabinga State School.
Ms Newman said she was humbled by the title, but thought there were plenty of fantastic teachers in the region.
“My mum said years ago the world will always need nurses, teachers and hairdressers,” she said.
NORTH BURNETT BEST TEACHER
Central and North Burnett Times readers could not look past Leah Trott, who has guided Gayndah State School’s youngest through their formative years for more than two decades.
“The school is like a family to me. I love seeing the development of the children and if you can make a difference in just one child’s life then it’s worth it,” Ms Trott said.
“We look at growing generation Gayndah – we’re trying to build great citizens for our community.”
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