This month begins with festive salutes to American Freedom through 4th of July celebrations recalling the birth of our nation. We, living in the Land of the Free, have much to be grateful for. This July also brings to an end our seventh year of publishing Marple Friends & Neighbors in print and online at MarpleMag.com. It is hard for me to believe you’re holding our 84th issue in your hands!
Can you recall the first time Marple’s hometown magazine arrived in your mail? Did you wonder how it could come to you for free? Over the past seven years, have you come to look forward to each new issue? Most importantly, have you come to understand our magazine’s motto: Bringing People Together?
While preparing for our first issue in August 2018, I never imagined how well our magazine would be Bringing People Together for these seven amazing years! And yet, I know it’s true because I am often thanked for our publication’s feel-good features, which circulate what we have in common: our hometown pride of living in Marple. That’s how we bring people together, through this social-media-in-print, which is our hometown magazine, made possible by our advertising Sponsors of Marple.
Regular readers know I always give all the credit for the success of our magazine to the advertising Sponsors seen on these pages. But I’ve never shared that sentiment with this freedom: Our Marple Sponsors had the freedom to say no. They had the freedom to advertise their business in many other ways. But they chose to support us, the residents of Marple, by choosing to use a portion of their limited marketing budget to sponsor our community. And in doing so, they make it possible for our hometown magazine to be mailed to your home for free each month.
Our Sponsors had the freedom to say no but they said YES. And we also have the freedom to say yes to the businesses that clearly demonstrate how important Marple residents are to the success of their business. Let’s use our freedom to buy local, and whenever possible, to choose with strong intention to do business first with the businesses advertising in our hometown magazine. That freedom is what is making Bringing People
Together possible for us.
Bob Blaisse
Publisher, Marple Friends & Neighbors