Boston, and the best of the 31 Flavors

Troy and Lauren Taylor are back in Sonoma after a surprise-filled, VIP stay in the healing city of Boston.

The Taylors are in my dream business -- for a quarter century, they've operated the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store in Sonoma.

They knew when Dunkin' Brands invited them to Boston for a meeting of franchise owners that they were to receive an honor of some sort. "But," said Troy, "we didn't know what."

When the big moment came at the awards banquet, the Taylors' Baskin-Robbins shop was declared the best of the more than 2,000 in America. I asked Troy why he supposes they received the top honor.

He said his customers are superb and his manager and assistant manager, Robin Ward and Ashley Weikert, are extraordinary. And that their approach to customer service is to imagine how they would like to be treated, and to aspire to treat everyone who walks through the door even better than that.

I was interested in what it was like to be in Boston so soon after the marathon bombings and the violence and arrests that followed.

"I will tell you, Boston is a very resilient community," the ice cream man said. "The healing process was very evident."

Beyond the pride he and Lauren felt to receive the award, he said, "We were really proud to be part of just being in Boston."

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ON PAGE 26 of the current Women's Day magazine is a sweet piece on the young lives that Evelyn Cheatham strengthens at WOW, the Worth Our Weight culinary apprentice cafe near Montgomery Village.

Evelyn says in the full-page, illustrated story that the hands-on instruction at WOW teaches the teens and young adults "that food is not only a gift of nourishment, but also a gift of love."

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THREE FOR ANALY: The office at Sebastopol's Analy High has received welcome news from Newsweek/The Daily Beast.

The online magazine announced that Analy has for the third straight year earned a spot on its list of the 1,000 best U.S. high schools -- those "most effective in turning out college-ready graduates."

Analy is ranked 709th this year, compared to 481st last year and 184th in 2011. Nicely done, Tigers, but might you claw your way back higher?

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GROW NO MORE? The typical business symposium in Santa Rosa focuses on how to expand an enterprise despite the challenges, but expect Wednesday's forum at the Glaser Center to probe what economic happiness looks like when the economy simply ceases to grow.

Sebastopol's Richard Heinberg, the widely read and quoted author on the transition away from oil and the pursuit of ever-improving profits, will address "Navigating the New Economic Reality" at a 7 p.m. forum hosted by the Share Exchange and Local Economy Institute.

Among those who'll join him afterward for a panel discussion is the terrific Ann Hancock of the local Climate Protection Campaign.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.