I always see the start of a new year not just as a time to look forward to what the next 12 months will bring, but also as the perfect opportunity to look back over the past year. And this January, my ninth (!) with Seaside Magazine, I thought I’d look back not only at the last year, but at the entire journey that has brought the magazine to where it is today.
When Seaside Magazine launched under then publisher and owner Tim Flater, it was under a different name: Peninsula Times (it became Seaside Times in May 2010, and then in January 2013, we became what we remain today: Seaside Magazine).
I came on board right at the beginning of Tim’s ownership, excited to leave my previous job at a commercial shipping trade journal in Vancouver and tackle something closer to my heart and far more creative.
In those early months, the magazine wasn’t full colour, was printed on electrabrite (with a similar feel to newsprint) and ran about 40 pages long. Oh how far we’ve come! Full colour, a minimum of 80 pages and crisp, vibrant colour – the Seaside Magazine of today bears little resemblance to its fledgling issue.
Despite all the changes, one thing has remained a constant over the years: our commitment to our community and the people and businesses in it. Although the team at Seaside is proud of what we’ve accomplished, we feel we have one “simple” job, one we take very seriously: to be the voice of the Saanich Peninsula. We are always looking at what niches need to be filled and what topics should be covered within our pages.
To that end, 2018 sees the launch of three new columns. Globehopping (p. 17) will share the stories of various people (both professionals in the travel industry and those who just love to travel) as they visit locales both near and far. Loving Large, Living Small
(p. 24) will talk about the journey of writer Linda Hunter and her family as they “design a plan to share a life which includes listening to their land and to each other, … and eventually living a communal future.” And finally, the column that really does embody our goal of being the voice of the Saanich Peninsula: Word on the Street
(p. 10), in which writer Lara Gladych will chat with local people of all demographics to find out their answers to our “question of the month.”
I wish you all the best for the coming year, and thank you for your continuing support. Happy New Year everyone!
