On Thursday evening, June 29, LaGrange Newsmedia, LLC hosted a launch party at the Del’avant Event Center to celebrate our upcoming magazine project, LaGrange Living, which is set to launch in less than a month. The event, held on a dreary, rain-soaked June evening, was attended by approximately 80-100 people and was a success by all accounts. A special thank-you is in order for Mr. Jake Behr, who has gone above and beyond what could reasonably be expected of anyone in the way of welcoming me to the community, and helping make this launch party a reality.

As of June 30, there were 37 businesses and individuals who had pledged support for the inaugural issue of LaGrange Living. Of those 37, 26 have agreed to support the magazine for the first calendar year, which is exciting and encouraging for both us and our advertisers. Dr. Chuck Pitts of Refresh Me! Dental and WellStar West Georgia Medical Center are two of our largest sponsors, and we look forward to a long, beneficial relationship with each on this project.

The first issue of LaGrange Living will highlight some unique and well-known Troup County staples. The Lafayette Society for Performing Arts and the Wild Life Safari Park will be represented, as will the Bellevue Woman’s Club, to name just a few of the highlights. We will also have pages full of photos taken of community people from different events over the last weeks and months.

This has been a hectic time creating and implementing this project, and we aren’t finished yet by a long shot. Even still, I can’t help but be grateful to this community, both on a personal and professional level, for what you have already done. Personally, I have been welcomed into LaGrange quicker and more sincerely than I could have imagined, which has been a blessing. Professionally, I know this community has been starved of a good, dependable community media source for years, and we are thankful there is still a desire for one to resurface. We are confident we are on the right track to becoming this source once again.

As a final thought, all I have really ever wanted to do is to tell stories. Truly good storytelling in any medium is rare and difficult to produce, but when done well brings forth an undeniable magic. From an idealistic perspective, this is what we’re chasing.

We’re chasing the feeling that sits on your chest at the culmination of a story well told. If we can create a magazine that consistently delivers this, everything else will fall into place.