The Desert Sun · Community’s Choice Awards
Best of the Desert.
Three times over.
Every year The Desert Sun asks the Coachella Valley one question: who’s actually the best at what they do? In 2020, 2022 and 2025 the answer, for moving, was a two-man crew out of the low desert. This page is the story of those three trophies — what the award is, why it’s hard to win, and why we keep showing up on the ballot.
See the official 2025 winners list
What this award actually is
The Desert Sun has covered the Coachella Valley since 1927 — it’s the paper on driveways from Palm Springs to Indio. Once a year it runs the Best of the Desert Community’s Choice Awards: readers put local businesses on the ballot, then the whole valley votes, category by category — restaurants, dentists, golf courses, and yes, movers.
There are no judges to impress and no fee that buys a spot. The winners list is published for everyone to read, which means every name on it was put there by its own customers. That’s the entire reason it means something.
The three ballots
2020 · 2022 · 2025The pandemic ballot
We won the year the world stayed home. Moving didn't stop in 2020 — leases still ended, families still relocated — and we ran every job masked, distanced and on time. When the votes were counted, the valley remembered who showed up.
The repeat
One win can be luck. Two years later the same readers were asked again, with every mover in the valley on the ballot, and they gave us the second trophy. That's the one that told us 2020 wasn't sympathy.
The hat trick
Five years after the first win, with new franchises and new crews working the same towns, the 760 voted us back to the top. Three trophies across six ballots — and the shelf has room left.
Why it’s hard to win
Moving is a business where one bad Saturday follows you around for years. The people voting in this contest are the same people whose couches we carried — there is no way to win it three times except to be good on close to every job, for years, in 115° summers.
And the ballot isn’t a small pond. The valley has national franchises with fleets and marketing budgets. We have two strong men, one big truck, and fourteen hundred moves’ worth of people who remember their move day going right. So far, that’s been the winning ticket.
What it means for your move
Our name goes back on that ballot every single year — so the crew that shows up at your door knows the next vote is riding on your kitchen table making it in one piece. Hire the movers the valley already vetted, from Palm Springs to every town in the 760.
Award questions
FAQWhat is the Best of the Desert award?
It's the Coachella Valley's annual readers' choice contest — the Best of the Desert Community's Choice Awards, run by The Desert Sun, the valley's daily newspaper (part of the USA TODAY Network). Every year readers put their favorite local businesses on the ballot and vote, and the winners are published in the paper's official winners list.
Who decides the winners?
Readers do. There's no judging panel and no application essay — nominations and votes come from people who live in the valley, which mostly means past customers and their neighbors. That's why we care about it more than any plaque you can order online.
Can a business pay to win it?
No. Winning comes down to votes, not entry fees. A business can ask its customers to vote — everyone does — but it can't buy the result. That's exactly what makes it worth winning.
How many times has 2 Strong Men and a Truck won?
Three times: 2020, 2022 and 2025. Same two-man crew, same truck, three different ballots spread across six years.
Where can I see the official results?
The Desert Sun publishes every year's winners on its contest site. The 2025 winners gallery is public — our link at the top of this page goes straight to it.