14 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2026 montereycountynow.com/bestof Around Town BEST REALTOR J.R. Rouse Properties Group 574 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove (831) 318-3808 jrrouseproperties.com Whether you’re looking to sell your big top or buy your next, you’ll need an experienced real estate agent at your side to make the process as smooth as possible. J.R. Rouse and his team can help you find that perfect home to fit everything you need: a makeup room for the clowns, storage for the cannon and plenty of seating for the audience. If you don’t live at the circus, J.R. Rouse Properties Group specializes in homes across the Monterey Peninsula and surrounding areas. With 415 sales under their belts (and growing), these agents know what home is—with red and white stripes or otherwise. BEST PLACE TO WORK Montage Health 23625 Highway 68, Monterey (831) 624-5311, montagehealth.org Sometimes working in a busy hospital can feel like a three-ring circus. There’s a lot going on everywhere and all at once. Montage Health has a lot of other rings besides its hospital, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, including Montage Medical Group, Montage Urgent Care, Carol Hatton Breast Care Center, Montage Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, Wellness Centers and more. And despite how demanding health care can be, Montage’s workforce has voted for Montage Health as the best place to work year after year since 2012. BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta 1200 Aguajito Road, 3, Monterey (831) 424-2229, panetta.house.gov Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, was a scholastic athlete—wrestling; no juggling or fire-eating teams in Monterey County. Yet Panetta is a performer through and through. He frequently flies to Washington, D.C. to that circus known as Congress, where he fights the ineptitude of the current federal administration while also juggling the needs of his Monterey Peninsula-centric congressional district with those of the the country. And yes, he deals with plenty of clowns. BEST LOCAL WEBSITE BEST LOCAL BLOG Montereycountynow.com When the barker announces, “Step right up...” you know there is something going on and you want to find out more. That is the role of the blog at montereycountynow.com (which is, of course, also the website). While everything put in print ends up online, there are more stories online than in the paper. From breaking news each time the Vistra battery storage site catches on fire to daily updates from IndyCar or the Pro-Am, there is a bit of everything people might want to know. The team at the Weekly use the blog and website to be in the now—and keep readers in the now. BEST CLERGY Father Peter Crivello St. Angela Merici 157 9th St., Pacific Grove (831) 655-4160, stangelamericapacificgrove.org Revival meetings often gather under circus-style tents. The performance of the minister is as much entertainment as salvation. Instead, locals have lauded Father Peter Crivello for keeping faith alive in the Central Coast region by focusing on salvation and engagement rather than purely entertaining frills. A Monterey native, Father Peter studied at Monterey Peninsula College and worked for the Social Security Administration before he was ordained into the priesthood in 1993. BEST VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION BEST HEALTH NONPROFIT Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula 700 Jewell Ave., Pacific Grove (831) 375-4454, mowmp.org Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula isn’t in the business of hawking funnel cakes and peanuts. The food they make is much more nutritious, and their business has always been about getting that food to the most vulnerable locals. In 2025 alone, they delivered well over 725,000 meals and mobilized nearly 800 volunteers, totaling some 33,000 volunteer hours. Now that’s a big—and important—production. BEST LOCAL DO-GOODER Elsa Rivera The Big Top is a marvel unto itself—a huge circus venue that can fold up and travel to the next pop-up show. Elsa Rivera has that unrivaled type of Big Top energy, volunteering for one project and then packing up and moving on to the next, and she does it all with a warm smile. She’s involved with the many fundraisers and events behindthe-scenes, helping a team pull off the Best Boat Tour | Princess Monterey Whale Watching
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