Thank you, Mason County

What am I thankful for?

Naturally I am thankful for my amazing, supportive, beautiful and godly wife, Becky. I am also thankful for friends, family and community.

This is an amazing community. Last week we saw the best in people as dozens of area emergency service personnel came out to bid farewell to Capt. John Sayles of the Pentwater Fire Department. The previous week, John died at the age of 38 of an aortic aneurysm.

Several times a week I hike at the Ludington State Park and I just am amazed that we actually have the privilege of living here. The natural beauty of this county is second to non. We have Lake Michigan to the west and thousands of acres of dunes and forests, open to the public.

I wanted to take a moment and thank you, the readers of the Mason County Press and for our advertisers. This site is a success because of you. I am thankful for the positive feedback I receive daily and for the news tips and suggestions. Thank you for believing in this site.

Just over 11 months ago, I found myself without a job. The newspaper I had been working for was purchased by an out-of-state corporation and several of the staff were fired. Within a week after finding out this shocking news, I decided to follow my entrepreneurial instincts and start my own medium.

Print is dying and starting another newspaper would be a hopeless battle. The only way to go would be to create a website. I wanted it to be free to the readers. I also wanted to utilize social media to engage the readers and to keep them informed as up-to-the-minute as I could. On Jan. 9, 2012, MasonCountyPress.com was born.

Since that time, we have grown tremendously. Statistics for that first month show that I had 5,000 hits on the site. Yesterday, we hit 28,000 for the month of November. Everyday our Facebook and Twitter followers grow. We now have over 1,000 Facebook followers and almost 400 Twitter followers.

We will continue to strive to be the most current news site in Mason County.

Again, thank you Mason County and have a blessed and very happy Thanksgiving.

– Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief