Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2013 - 8

E

from the
editor

kurt rheinheimer

BRC: 25 and Beginning Anew
we’re taking bold steps to honor this magazine’s readers for
your loyalty over the past quarter century.

From Top:
Jeffrey K. Wood, Digital Publications Editor
Liz Long, Social Media Editor
Austin Clark, Art Director
Caroline McKean, Associate Art Director

8 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

It began as something we could sort of
push off to one side as an aberration:
“When are you,” would come the occasional email, “going to make Blue Ridge
Country available electronically, so I can
read it on my iPad?”
The requests have grown, if not quite
to a chorus then at least to a consistency
level that made us at last listen to Digital
Editor Jeff Wood, who’s been gently clamoring for several years now.
The digital edition, debuting with the
issue you’re reading, presents everything
in the print edition, plus lots more content
associated with the issue: slideshows, videos, audio and other bonus content.
If you’re reading this in print, you’re
invited to go here to peruse the digital edition: BlueRidgeCountry.com/Online.
And as friendly and reaching-out as
Blue Ridge Country has always strived to
be, how could we not “go social,” with
outreaches through the likes of Facebook,
Twitter and Pinterest? In fact, Social Media
Editor Liz Long has been at work for many
months, building our Facebook friends
number, for example from around 6,000
to the current 9,100-plus.
One result: Her generating most of the
wonderful response to the recently added
Our Readers Know department (this issue
our readers picked favorite covers over
the 25-year history of the magazine; see
page 42).
And in case you didn’t notice: With this
issue, we launch a new, clean, modern
design for BRC, as Art Director Austin
Clark and Associate Art Director Caroline
McKean have removed a bit of the clutter
that can build up over 25 years, have
sharpened the look and made the overall
presentation of the magazine easier to
navigate and enjoy. Or at least that’s the
way we see it; please let us know your
feelings.
There’s more that’s new: President
Richard Wells, the Asheville native whose
vision gave birth to the magazine back in

1988, is marking the anniversary with a
re-dedication to Blue Ridge Country’s
founding principles. Among them:
• Bringing to readers the best of the
mountain region’s locally grown and
home-town produced and sold, as what
comes from just down the street is simply
better than what comes from across the
sea or even Arkansas.
• Keeping as a banner for all our stories
the inherent value of the mountains to
restore our souls, rejuvenate our bodies
and lure our youth out into their treasures
and pleasures.
• Sustaining the perspective that travel
through and amid this region’s heritage,
culture and musical roots is an educational
and valuable experience.
• Advancing the cause of a central and
ongoing core of both the magazine and
the region as a whole: We believe in the
Blue Ridge Parkway as it was originally
intended – as a scenic respite for the traveler and as an economic engine for rural,
isolated mountain communities.
The business side of Blue Ridge
Country has also changed within recent
months, with the addition of Scott
Templeton as publisher. His many years of
work as publisher of the travel guides for
the states of Tennessee and West Virginia
among others, have already brought
strong positive changes to an entity that is
fully dependent on the support of not only
readers, but also our advertising partners,
who beginning with this issue are now
offered additional and exciting ways to
connect with our readers.
thIs celebratIon of our 25th and the
wonderful changes it brings would not
be complete without a little looking back
as well.
When Richard had his vision for this
publication ready for execution, his next
step was to send me out on the road for a
week or two – in search of knowledge of
the region, of story ideas and of writers
http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2013
