On the ‘edge’ of expansion

I’m going share a story with you, Sun Day reader, that until now I’ve only told to Sun Day staff and contributors (and when told, anecdotally at that).

When I first presented the idea of starting the Sun Day to my wife, Erika, (a tense meeting to say the very least … the very least), I presented it to her like this: “It will be a small publication. I promise. Just something I can do myself.”

At the time, I was still working for Shaw Suburban Media, covering all DeKalb County for The MidWeek and some other towns so far down south traces of a twang appeared in people’s speech. Given that coverage area and the duties of a reporter/photographer I inflicted (yes, inflicted) on myself weekly, I thought Sun City would be a breeze. What I was forgetting at the time was that I didn’t own The MidWeek, too.

Now, two years, 24- to 32-pages, more than 20 staff and/or contributors later, I look back dumbfounded at my initial image of the Sun Day kind of like somebody, out of the blue, say while brushing his teeth in the morning, relives in all its detail an embarrassing moment birthed out of shear ignorance. You know what I’m talking about. That moment where the toothbrush slows then stills in your mouth, and foam gathers on your lip. You stare at yourself in the mirror, thinking: “How could I have been soooo … whatever (you pick the word, here).” And then the moment passes, and you continue your day.

This edition marks the second-year anniversary of the Sun Day, and instead of brushing my teeth, I’m typing, fingers paused over the keys (well, not exactly at this moment, but a few moments ago), and instead of staring at my reflection in the mirror, I’m looking at a vague silhouette of myself reflected in the monitor. But those same emotions are there, nonetheless, only this time awe is seeping in at the evolution of the Sun Day that was hardly done by my hand but by all those who work with, participate, and support this paper.

The second-year anniversary is far different than year one’s. Year one, we (yes, you, too, Sun Day reader) got to make a big mess and show of eating our cake. Year two is a little more serious but no less exciting. We’re walking and talking now and, of course, growing. And like a toddler, we’re on the move, eager to please.

With that, I proudly and fondly announce the Sun Day’s expansion into the Del Webb community of Edgewater in Elgin!

In this edition, we introduce the new section The Edge to Sun Day readers. As with the Sun Day’s commitment to Sun City, The Edge features news and content focused specifically on the Edgewater community. And just as we hope the Edgewater community accepts Sun City stories into the their fold, we hope the Sun City community accepts Edgewater stories into theirs because we promise to maintain the same standard we’ve been maintaining all along, which is to always bring you news and features relevant to your interests and lifestyle. Operating in Elgin also allows us to expand our coverage area and bring you Elgin news about events, such as productions at Hemmens Cultural Center or upcoming performances by The Children’s Theater of Elgin or the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, all whose relevant reach extends to the entire far northwest suburbs. In reality, Elgin is a but a hop, skip, and jump from Huntley.

News relevancy is also the reason we opted to combine the communities into one newspaper rather than starting an entirely new publication in Edgewater. Both the Sun City community and Edgewater community have the idea of Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Given the two communities close proximity, both communities rolled into one publication gives each community a common talking place that doesn’t exist in other news sources.

Frankly, it’s not much different than what you see in other newspapers who have datelines that extend from Chicago all the way to Harvard. Why does an Elmhurst resident read a story that takes place in Algonquin? Because it interests them. And we offer the unique scope of presenting news from very similar neighboring communities. Furthermore, stories will often cross over into both areas, like our cover story this edition about Sondra Kastin, a former Sun City resident who now lives in Elgin.

An expansion into Edgewater has been a longstanding idea on the Sun Day’s table, one that’s been shuffled through many incarnations and around and around since day one. Since our first edition, we’ve received calls from residents in various Del Webb communities, some as far away as those in Arizona or Las Vegas, asking if we planned on bringing the Sun Day to their community. Many of those calls came from Edgewater residents. But for a newspaper to expand into a new community, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of logistical hoops to jump through. We’re not a shopper. We can’t slap some extra addresses on our mailing panel and call it a day. We had to weigh the level of news generated, we had to find a reporter to cover the area (thank you, Andrew Steckling, Sun Day’s new Edgewater reporter), we had distribution of workloads to consider, we had to measure production scheduling, mailing scheduling, and formatting to decide the best venue for the new area. Overall, we had to develop a new concept.

To be honest, I shelved the idea for a long time, despite the demand from both advertisers and community members.

But then two things happened that caused me to revisit an Edgewater expansion.

Former Sun Day reporter Mason Souza became its new Assistant Managing Editor fulltime, relieving a large editorial workload from my schedule. Mason is also largely credited with organizing and managing the Edgewater expansion and working out a lot of the logistical nuances that prevented us from an expansion until now.

The second thing that spurred our expansion into Edgewater was some email correspondence with Bob Karas, Karas Family Restaurants Owner who owns and operates Rookies Pub, The Village Squire, and Alexander’s Restaurant.

Bob asked me if we circulated to Edgewater, and when I told him no, he simply asked, “Why not?” For all the times we were asked if we covered Edgewater, no one ever asked why not. Presented with the question, I couldn’t help but revisit the idea to really decide: Why is it we don’t cover Edgewater? Ultimately, with the addition of Mason Souza’s new job function, and after a few production meetings with the Sun Day’s printing company, we decided that moving into Edgewater was not only doable but a natural progression for the Sun Day. And so far, we’ve received nothing but praise, excitement, and compliments from Sun City and Edgewater residents alike.

The Sun Day’s Edgwater expansion is credited to three very important and integral camps. First, the Sun Day’s staff and contributors. Not only has and does their work continue to mold and evolve the Sun Day edition by edition, their belief in the Sun Day and its importance in the community is the Sun Day’s lifeblood. Here you have a team who genuinely dreams big for the paper, never stopping to come up with new ideas and find stories of interest for the Sun Day’s readers or find advertisers who appeal to its readers.

Second, the Sun Day advertisers … especially those who have been with the paper since the first edition and still advertise today. I briefly single these early advertisers out because they supported an idea. They had no model to help them with their decision. They simply took a chance. I sat in each of their offices and presented them an idea with nothing to back that idea up but my own words. And those early advertisers are who gave the Sun Day legs. Without them, the Sun Day would never have gotten out of my head into your hands. Then came all the other advertisers who continue to widen the road the earliest ones paved. We have six advertisers from the first edition, five additional from the second edition, and two additional from the third edition that still religiously advertise in the Sun Day today. And with every edition since, that loyalty has continued to build. Our advertisers forever build the life of the paper, and it’s because of their overwhelming support that the paper has literally grown in size, sometimes reaching as many 32 pages. Did you know that’s larger than most weeklies. It’s even larger than some dailies.

But no matter how many ads we have, we still need the editorial content to fill the pages, which leads me to the most important camp of all: You, the dedicated reader.

I want to stress how substantial it is that your contributions, support, belief, and participation in the Sun Day have helped grow it in page count, content, and scope. Your support and constant readership is humbling and appreciated more than I am able to express. And how the original advertisers provided the monetary platform to start the Sun Day, your early excitement and anticipation provided the encouragement and motivation to make the Sun Day go. Think of the first edition of the Sun Day like a fragile egg thrown. Without someone on the other end to catch it … well …. Thank you for being there.

There were a lot of goals I set for the Sun Day that I was able to achieve, but before I started the Sun Day and thought it was something I could do by myself, I never planned for the talent and support that would come forward. And I never imagined the Sun Day would hold such value to its readers, contributors, and advertisers. In all my humility, I say Thank You. And Happy Anniversary Sun Day.

Chris La Pelusa
Managing Editor

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