Community Corner

Editor Thankful for First Year of Madison Patch

After launching the day before Thanksgiving in 2009, we've seen a lot of change in the borough and on the site.

It's hard to believe today, Thanksgiving 2010, marks the one-year-anniversary of Madison Patch's launch.

The past 365 days have been filled with intense change and growth for Madison, our site, Patch in general, and myself. It has been amazing to watch up close.

I started with the company about three weeks before launch, leaving my position as sports editor at the Daily Record for a world that was both exciting and unknown. One of my first items of business was meeting with Borough Administrator Ray Codey to introduce myself and let him know what Patch was.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lucky for me, Codey's daughter went to school at Seton Hall, and South Orange was one of the first three Patch towns. He already knew what we were about, and the important role we play in the communities we are a part of and serve. Though we know Patch has become an enormous part of the community and has a high visibility in the borough now, at that time Codey may have been the only person in all of Madison to know what Patch was. Boy was that about to change.

A little history for those interested: Madison Patch was not only the first Patch in Morris County (we now have five and will get close to doubling that very soon), but the 17th in the entire country. As of Tuesday, there were 410 live sites across the country, in 15 states (there are more to come). Head here if you really want a more in-depth look at where we are and where we are headed.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Our first articles that ran on the site? A welcome video introducing who we were, a report on council appropriating funds for the Bayley-Ellard fields, and a gallery from the high school fall drama. Actually, that was an easy way to figure out we were a year old: here's this year's drama .

We've broken our share of stories since Day 1. You found out here first that Superintendent Dr. Richard Noonan was for Pennsylvania, all the news on the Brooklake Road , the at Chef Loryn's, and how a squirrel caused a borough-wide power . Of course, we also broke a number of stories on the Kinney Street , which to date is the most widely read story and series of stories on the site.

We've also gone to and covered some really fun events. We brought you a and from our trip to Bottle Hill Day. We also put in our fair share of work at , mulching on Main Street between Green Village Road and Lincoln Place.

I know you've noticed that our site, and its editor, try to be a part of the community in a way most publications aren't. To that end, readers were able to share in a momentous day in my life when my announcement to Heather Collura (yes, she's the Summit Patch editor) appeared on the site. It's just another thing I am very thankful for that occurred over the past year.

So, on Thanksgiving I give thanks for a wonderful year of serving the community. And I also thank all of you for embracing me, the site, and making this past year a very special one.


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