Happy Belated Birthday, Granbys Patch
The hyperlocal site delivering all news from Granby and East Granby celebrated it's first year a couple of weeks ago.
Hey, ever see that movie “16 Candles,” when the lead character played by the greatest actress of all time, Molly Ringwald, has her 16th birthday forgotten by her entire family?
Well, I did the same thing for my site, only The Granbys Patch didn’t - to my knowledge at least - get hit on my Anthony Michael Hall, get felt up by its grandmother, have its underwear shown to a bathroom full of freshmen or get harassed by a horrifically named Asian stereotype.
In my defense, I started with Patch in August; my tenure was preceded by the very excellent Jeff Brush, who launched the site, and the equally excellent Julie Weisberg, who served as guest editor for a couple of months before moving on to the East Haven Patch.
Here’s a message from Brush all the way from South Carolina giving his thoughts on the anniversary of the launch:
“Launching The Granbys Patch took a lot of hard work but it was a process that was both rewarding and inspirational. Granby and East Granby are two unique communities that remain near and dear to my heart having grown up in neighboring Simsbury.
From the snow storms of early 2011 to the flooding that occurred in the spring, The Granbys Patch stayed on top of breaking news that impacted the community. We were there when the security of several downtown banks and Granby Memorial High School were threatened by bomb threats. We were there when Granby Police Captain David Bourque was brought up on charges that shocked the community."
In the four months since I took over from Julie and Jeff, we’ve been through a lot together: Tropical Storm Irene, an earthqua - er - ground shimmy, and the massive power outages in November that, instead of bringing the community to its knees, brought it closer together. We’ve seen the Dewey-Granby Oak take its lumps, but keep on ticking. We’ve seen sports teams make remarkable runs in their respective state tournaments. Best of all is we’ve seen the very best of both communities.
I look forward to covering the two communities for many more years to come. As for this year, a belated happy birthday to The Granbys Patch. Now go make out with Jake Ryan.
Tami Zawistowski
9:37 am on Sunday, December 25, 2011
Yes, Happy Birthday to The Granbys Patch, which has been fortunate to have three great editors in the past year (good to hear Jeff's doing well). It's great to have somewhere to go for local breaking news as well as a lot of fun, quirky stuff. And Ted, it's good to see you at so many local events - you really show a commitment to making this venue work. So Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and I think you missed Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer as one of the worst Christmas songs ever.
Ted Glanzer
10:53 am on Sunday, December 25, 2011
Thank you so much Tami, it's been a pleasure; I CAN'T believe I missed Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Sigh. Next year's list?
Julie Weisberg
9:30 am on Monday, December 26, 2011
Happy Birthday, Granbys Patch!! And Happy Holidays to the Granby and East Granby residents!! I enjoyed meeting so many of you over the summer, good to know that you are now in Ted's very capable (equally humorous!) hands — congratulations Ted on GP's first year!!
Ted Glanzer
1:35 pm on Monday, December 26, 2011
Thanks for weighing in, Julie and thank you for all that you have done for The Granbys Patch. Hope all is well in East Haven - the residents are lucky to have you there.