Here We Grow Wins Readers' Choice Contest

Things stayed pretty neck-and-neck for two local day cares during Patch's Readers' Choice contest this week, but takes the win with 12 percent more poll votes and a few extra supportive comments.

The second place contender is , and in third place is .

"It’s great (to have won) — it was very fun. ... The grandparents of one of the children at the center called and told us about the contest — so we just let our families know about it," said Dawn Zirtzlaff, administrator and director of Here We Grow. "We don’t do a lot of advertising because most of our advertising is our parents and word of mouth … we just have really supportive families here and they do spread the word about how pleased they are with our center and what we have to offer."

In determining the winner, Patch considered a number of items, including poll votes, business listing ratings, article comments and Facebook or Twitter comments.

Here We Grow and St. Matthew both generated a similar amount of positive buzz surrounding their day care services, with 5-star ratings on their listings since the week began; Here We Grow also had an .

The final poll numbers when the poll closed at 9 a.m. Friday were (note: this poll is not scientific):

• Here We Grow had 82 votes — or 52 percent;
• St. Matthew Lutheran Church & Christian Childcare had 63 votes — or 40 percent; 
• Community Learning Center had 11 votes — or 7 percent.

Congrats to the winners, and sign on to Patch on Monday to vote as we select the Readers' Choice for best places to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.