Introducing Soky Happenings Magazine

About Soky Happenings? I'm glad you asked. This is my personal introduction found on page 4 of our first issue.

Introducing SOKY HAPPENINGS!
This is our answer to the question, "What's going on?"
By David Francis, Publisher Soky Happenings.
June 1, 2007

Hi, my name is David Francis and I am the publisher of Soky Happenings. This is the first time I've ever had an editorial column to write and frankly, I find it intimidating. My mind whirls with thoughts of what I would like to say, points I would like to make and things I think you should know. In the end however, this magazine is not about me, it's about you and the community we share.

I stare at the blank screen and realize that my points are not as important as your questions. This is the first issue and you are probably wondering, "What is this?" and "What's your point?" That's fair enough.

In short, the Soky Happenings magazine will be focused on people, places and events in our community. It will be written by and for the people of south central Kentucky. It will focus on the places to go, things to do and people who make it happen.

We will write about the places to go, not about the places not to go. We will write about the things to do, not about the things not to do. We will write about the people who contribute to making southern Kentucky such a wonderful place to live, not about those who do otherwise.

It is not intended to be a newspaper. Bowling Green has one of those and it is great! We will seek to provide a simple guide to events and offer positive perspectives on our community. My vision for this magazine does not include journalistic reports; it will focus on creative stories and personal narratives relating to the community we love.

As members of the community, we knew there was plenty of things to do in and around Bowling Green but we lacked a central resource dedicated to the many exciting people, places and events in south central Kentucky. Soky Happenings is intended to be a resource that you will find useful and entertaining.

The process of bringing the magazine to you was amazingly more complicated than coming up with the idea. I have experience in the Air Force managing a Public Affairs staff that produced a periodical, actually assembling the team from scratch and bringing all of the pieces together proved to be unexpectedly challenging. In the end, hard work, long hours and great people enabled us to bring this to you. Friends, family and people I've never met before offered to help bring this exciting project to market. The fact is, without their help this would have likely been published in December if at all.

A spark rekindled a dream and it happened in the first week of March this year. A dream that would be difficult to make real; I knew this would take some time so we aimed for the 4th of July. What I didn't consider was the excitement from and the support this would receive from our community. What I didn't know was how willing my close friends were to help me. What I never dreamed of was the enthusiasm we would receive from local area businesses and their willingness to sponsor an unpublished area events magazine.

I talk about me because many people have asked the questions addressed above, but the fact is we have a team of people who are dedicated to bringing a high quality, accurate and creative resource to the community.

My wife Carrie has worked tirelessly gathering contact information and events schedules resulting in more than 650 events listed in the June calendar grid.

Both of my sons wanted to help and while my youngest son Jesse, goes off to basic military training this month, my eldest son Trey has agreed to work full time for Soky Happenings in ad sales. He's doing great.

Then there is my great friend Andy Baker who has been there for me at all hours of the day as I transform myself into a print man. Andy has supplied a wealth of insight based on his experience publishing the local area community telephone directory. Thanks to Andy I am now a Macintosh user and can speak a whole new language shared by those who put ink on paper instead of pixels on a screen.

There are many others who have offered priceless ideas, tips, guidance, counsel and advice. I thank you all and hope to repay you by creating a useful resource. The writers and editors, some of whom I didn't know a month ago are precious to me and I look forward to working with them for years to come.

This is a complicated and expensive endeavor. I must admit that without the help of the people I love and trust this would not have happened. Thank you! Without the support of our sponsors and their willingness to take a chance on a new unseen publication, bringing this to you would be impossible.

The sponsors are listed on the back cover: These are the people who had faith in a dream and were willing to invest in the community and my new company. We contacted hundreds of businesses in the area during March, April and May; the sponsors of this issue are different than any other because they took a chance on us. We are honored by this and will never forget those who helped make Soky Happenings happen.

Published in the June 2007 issue of Soky Happenings magazine, Bowling Green KY USA
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