Soon enough, 2016 will fade into the history books and, for many of us, this is a welcome wiping of the slate. This year has taken a lot out of us, and cherished people and things from us. But 2016 also gave so much.
Each of us has our own list of joys. For me, this year brought a handsome nephew. I celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary with my husband and Voice co-editor, Erik, and my mom’s 70th birthday.
For Voice of the River Valley, this year also brought the 10th anniversary of its founding by Mary Friedel-Hunt and her husband, Bill. In 2016, we shared the magazine with more people at more places, supported by both new and longtime advertisers. Voice created a more active social media presence, and printed the work of an amazing slate of regional artists, photographers, poets and writers (For a look back at this year’s covers, see the back page.)
I’m grateful to our four regular columnists — Marnie Dresser, Mary Friedel-Hunt, John Heasley and Kathy Steffen — and this year’s “Driftless Terroir” guest columnists, including Bazile Booth, Keith Burrows, Jerry Davis, Erik Flesch, Drew Hanson, Heather Harris, Caitlin Hatch, John Hess, Cory Ritterbusch and Lydia Zepeda.
To all of you who contributed your calendar events, your ads, your art or your words, thank you. This community content is the flesh, blood and soul of Voice of the River Valley. We look forward to the adventures yet to come, and to bringing you another year of Voice in 2017. Warm wishes for all of your winter celebrations.
Happy reading,
Sara Lomasz Flesch