by Rebecka Hoyt, Editor, and Jen Garry, Publisher
Welcome to the 1 year anniversary of our FIRST issue! As I (Rebecka) type this, I am sitting at my dining room table with a smile on my face and just overjoyed that this is issue #24! When I scheduled our issues, it seemed like it would take forever to arrive at this point. However, as time went on, our team kept busy, each issue flew by like the wind. We all know how challenging the past year with a pandemic was, but we started this online newspaper to bring something exciting and fresher to the “Nicest Place in America.”
Meeting with a new team took some clever ways to get together with everyone as we are from different households and we didn’t have an actual “office building” besides my (Rebecka) house. We started meeting from a Facebook video group chat to now, Microsoft Teams meeting video. We meet three times a week sometimes via video, in-person, or at a local eatery/park. So, if you see us out and about and it looks like we are in a meeting, feel free to say, “Hi!” and also give us a story idea/comment about The Buchanan Chronicle online newspaper! Facebook LIVE has been a great tool for us to use at community events, like showcasing the Buchanan Farmers’ Market, cheering on BHS sports teams as they leave for a BIG game or come back home after WINNING a BIG game, parades, oh and I can’t forget about the Summer 2021 Olympics Watch Party for Hannah Roberts! It has also given you, our readers/followers on Facebook, a chance to see the personalities of our team. We also have reminders emailed to our readers who have signed-up for the notification when an issue is ready to read and our subscribers list keeps growing and best of all, it’s free! If you have not yet signed-up, please do so here on our website at the bottom of our home page.
We have gained more advertisers in recent months, and we hope this will continue as we are saving up to get some kind of issue printed later this year. Yes, we get phone calls and questions from the public asking where they can get a printed newspaper. So, this is where groups, organizations, clubs, job ads, restaurants, stores, full-length obituaries, engagement/wedding/anniversary announcements, etc….can help us out. Want to know our prices, just send us an email to: buchananchronicle@att.net and we will work with you, don’t hesitate!
One last thing that we cannot forget to mention is our past and current writers/videographers/photographers. It takes a lot of work and time to put a story together. Some are easy and others are filled up with tons of information! There are notifications of stories on THE day of an event or days/weeks/months in advance and even just days before an issue is published. Just over a year ago, four days before the first issue came out, was the fire at the West Wind apartments in Buchanan. One of our writers lived very close to it and was able to photograph and do a quick write-up. What a way to start our first issue! To our team: your flexibility and understanding have been great and we applaud you for that! Also, the friendships that have grown from this team is great, we love seeing how all of you have developed into great writers/photographers/artists.❤️ Lastly, the way you care about our small town Buchanan online newspaper & Buchanan (the city itself) and all that it has and will have to offer everyone. Thank You!
For me (Jen), it has been an amazing first year, and has gone by so fast! Just as it starts feeling like we’re getting into the swing of things and suddenly a whole year has gone by somehow! At the beginning of this adventure I really didn’t know what to expect. It was exciting and we didn’t even know how much we had to learn about how to bring the most local news to our neighbors near and far. There have been innumerable lessons learned so far, and we’re looking forward to doing more learning and growing. I’ve really enjoyed this journey of creating and building The Buchanan Chronicle, especially meeting our team members and working with them to bring the community the most relevant news.
Looking ahead into this year, there’s a summer full of activities and events for us to report on coming up soon. We will be at Buchanan Farmers’ Market a few times again this year, so stop by and say hi to our team (and maybe enter to win something from us). Also make sure you’re following us on our Facebook Page as we’ve started something new with “Take-a-Poll Tuesdays”, where we ask our community a question or opinion; we want your feedback so be sure to take our polls and share them with the community.
Additionally, I’m very thankful. For our community, our sponsors, and really for our team of volunteers who work so hard to help us. We as The Buchanan Chronicle could not do what we love without our writers, our readers, and our many supporters; so thank you all so much!! Lastly I have to remind our community how much we love to hear from you all your suggestions, articles, ideas, opinions, and anything you’d like shared with your community!
It is our hope that you will be informed on Buchanan, MI happenings, whether you live here or far away. Thank you for taking the time to read, and we hope that you have a chance to visit “The Nicest Place in America!” While checking out The Buchanan Chronicle Facebook Page, please share our page and website with your friends and family, keeping our community informed! Thank you for a great first year, we can’t wait to bring you all the local news as we go into our second year!
The Buchanan Chronicle 