No really, we weren’t counting. As our loyal RFM readers know, our team stays mighty busy from one issue to the next, only stopping to count the number of years we’ve been at it every October. But after celebrating our eighth anniversary, it hit me that we were coming up on our 100th issue – wow!
When we started this journey in the fall of 2009, I’m not sure there was a person out there (without blood connections) who thought we would make it to see one hundred issues. Not that they didn’t have confidence in our abilities, but perhaps there was a lack of faith that a print product would survive in the emerging digital age. But survive we did, and dare I say, thrive, even!
It all really hit me at the Richmond Region Tourism breakfast last month, and I actually got choked up when it was my turn to speak during the “introduce yourself and your company” pass-the-mike time. Surrounded by folks from the very best RVA has to offer, I realized how many of them choose RFM to help them share their marketing messages with area families. Even better, I consider many of these colleagues my friends, now – holy smokes! From Kings Dominion to the Science Museum of Virginia to Short Pump Town Center, these places really count on us to produce a high quality product each month and get it into the hands of their current and future customers. It’s a little intimidating to think about, but thanks to our faithful readers, who have spread the word for our last ninety-nine issues, and have frequented these businesses because they saw them in RFM, we’ve made it to the big 1-0-0.
To commemorate the occasion, I finally indulged my boys, who have been asking for their moment of glory on the RFM cover since the first issue (okay, only one could actually form words back then, but as soon as he could talk, he started asking when he could be on the cover!). Since this is our official summer camp issue, and they love their summer camp time at Passages, it only made sense to toss them on a wall at Peak Experiences and let them ham it up for the camera (too bad the nifty haircuts I made them get on the way to the photo shoot proved to be worthless – ha ha! #safetyfirst).
What’s next for RFM? Well, our eighth annual RFM Summer Adventure Expo is just around the corner, at its new location right in the middle of Richmond at Peak Experiences’ new second location inside SCOR. On our website, we are excited to launch Just Joan: RVA Storyteller with new exclusive online content. We will continue to sponsor and come out to greet you at area events and nonprofit fundraisers. We’ll keep having fun on social media with photos, contests, and info you can use as you make your way through each day. And most importantly, we’ll keep telling stories – in print! – that inform, entertain, and enlighten you. Please join us for our next 100 issues!
