Well, we are about to surpass one year of living with COVID. Everyone’s lives have changed in some way, and even for the better, with many of us becoming more cognizant of living life more deliberately and less frantically than we did before.
Of course, we have all struggled with stressful the state of the world, and our own mental and physical health, while many businesses have either been forced to close or completely alter the way they do business. In fact, many people have asked me why we haven’t returned to printing our magazine, and I thought now was a good time to share with you, our readers, a few reasons why we remain online only. First and foremost is safety. Many of our current pick-up locations are closed, at reduced hours/capacity, or unable to host free publications in order to help stop the spread of COVID. We are reluctant to put any distributor or readers at risk by encouraging more touch-points than necessary in public spaces. Secondly is economics. We are part of a huge trickle-down effect of the pandemic. Since our publication is free, we rely on the support of our advertisers to fund it. Many of our advertisers have been greatly affected by COVID restrictions and are struggling and can’t advertise with us. Therefore, as much as we would like to, being a very small, family-owned business, we simply cannot print our publication in a sustainable manner as a corporate-owned magazine can.
Now the good news! Our Spring 2021 issue marks a year since we pivoted to online only, and what hasn’t changed is the entertaining and insightful local content we continue to provide our readers. Many of our advertisers have also pivoted their businesses and are able to continue supporting us, and we cannot thank them enough. In the past year, our online readership has increased exponentially, and our readers are accessing us safely and easily from the comfort of their home. Thanks to social media, our content is also easily shared, linked to, and available 24-7.
I very much appreciate you sticking with us through these uncertain times, and I do hope you’ll share the link to the magazine on your social media channels to help spread the word!
Stay safe and stay healthy!
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