Reflecting on our first year

By Adam Hocking

Editor

The first issue of the Hub City Times was published on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014. This means that the issue that went out this week represents our one-year anniversary.

For me it has been a tremendous privilege to be involved in producing this publication, which I believe to be a service to the community that has given me and my family so much. I grew up in Marshfield, and after about 10 years away from town split between Eau Claire and the Twin Cities, my wife Amanda and I decided to come home to raise our son and put down roots. Amanda is also a Marshfield native, and we could not be more thrilled with our decision to make this wonderful community our long-term home.

When Hub City Times started, the paper had a simple goal: to provide the community with a strictly local news source that would be both informative and reflective of the city of Marshfield and surrounding areas. We believe that over the course of our first year we have stayed true to that goal.

Our model is also relatively simple. We are online daily, in print weekly, and always free. It is only through the tireless efforts of our sales, production, and office staff and the support of our advertisers that we are able to deliver this product to our readers at no cost. That is something of which we are extremely proud.

Assistant Editor Eric LeJeune is the reason that this paper runs smoothly and is as close to error free as possible each week. He is absolutely passionate about his work and is the silent driving force behind the success of the publication. He goes the extra mile for this paper because he loves it, and everyone involved with producing the paper or reading it benefits from his many talents and deep commitment.

Our sports reporter Paul Lecker is nothing short of brilliant, and his experience covering sports in the Marshfield area is extensive, dating back to 1999. His expertise and dedication to providing in-depth and immediate content for local sports readers have been a gift to our publication.

Our columnists, contributors, and organizations that submit information have helped us gather news and entertaining content for our readers. Without many hands helping to produce this paper, we would not be able to succeed.

Finally, the community itself has embraced us and given us the motivation and drive to continue delivering a high-quality product day in and day out. The calls, letters, and emails we have received expressing support, appreciation, and enjoyment of the paper have been both humbling and unbelievably gratifying.

It has been an incredible year for me personally, and I thank every one of you who has picked up this paper and given something new a chance.