Four days from today will mark the day Volume I, Issue I of The Beachcomber first hit a very few locations along our beaches. Looking at those early issues, I suspect no one ever thought we’d still be around five years later. Not only are we still here, but the quality of this newspaper—which frankly had nowhere to go but up—has soared. From modest distribution sites, we have grown to include just about every high traffic business in the area. If you can’t find a copy, you don’t get out enough.

The learning curve wasn’t as steep as it might have been. After a few false starts, we discovered the beauty of using local artists’ work on the cover. This afforded us with distinctive covers for each and every issue, plus touted the diversity and beauty of those artists striving to have their work seen by large numbers of people. Some of the artists featured on our covers have managed to make a commission or two or sell prints from the exposure. Nothing makes me happier than hearing news like that, because aside from exposure, we give the artists nothing. When the artist makes a sale, I feel like the connection has been completed with the right result.

The first few issues suffered from poor layout design, but by the seventh or eighth edition, we were lucky to have procured the services of Tosha Manke, who is a true artist in the graphic sense. Every two weeks, she takes everything we send her and arranges it in eye-catching ways without too many distractions. One thing I admire most greatly about her is she never gets ruffled. Sometimes we throw stuff at her at the last minute and she takes it all in stride. I told her early on that the only rule was there are no rules, only a few guidelines. I think artists like hearing that and the result of that freedom is seen fortnightly.

When we started this little experiment in free enterprise, we had a desire to provide information about all those elements that comprise entertainment for both visitors and full time residents. Thus, we decided early on to offer book and movie reviews from people living right here, along with profiles of musicians working in the area, and searching out small family operated businesses to profile. The explosion of shopping alone in the past five years guarantees no end of new businesses to profile.

I wish I could say we looked under every rock and behind every tree to find the quality of writers who could provide our readers with well-written articles, astute reviews and provocative essays. Not true. They found us and the collaboration has been beneficial to all. When we get mail from our readers, they almost always mention the quality of the writing. That is not an accident. A lot of folks have auditioned for spots on our paper, but few succeed. We may not have the largest circulation in the area, but what we do have is a highly educated eclectic mix of people who delight in putting words together to tell a story.

From time to time we get feedback on our very public work. Some of the latest is included in this issue. Charles Morgan prompts a lot of readers to drop us a line and those with names attached to them will always be printed. Vitriolic hate pieces, written with pencils on postcards and unsigned, will never see the light of day. If our writers have the courage of their convictions, those in opposition need to display the same amount of courage. There is no sin in disagreement and I, for one, think it makes the world more interesting when honest differences of opinion can be openly discussed.

From a modest, “let’s use the barn to put on a play” enterprise, today we have offices in the heart of Destin. We have a number of dedicated advertisers who have been loyal since the very beginning and we couldn’t do it without them. Those of us that put this paper out operate like a family—complete with loud disagreement from time to time—but the reality is we all enjoy the people we meet and the jobs we perform. We look forward to seeing what the next five years might bring.

Thanks to all our loyal readers for making this such a fine and fulfilling experiment.

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