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Six years old
When the Cosmos premiered exactly six years ago today, we know there were a number of skeptics in town, perhaps several hundred, who thought we’d be a flash in the pan. Some flash. Some pan.
You are now reading our 302nd issue (we usually publish 50 issues per year, but the calendar is an eccentric tool). We keep all 302 of them on our front shelf, just in case we have to refer to them, but we admit it’s a while since we took a close look at number one. You can read a few excerpts on page 11 this week, and turning its pages caused a few reflections.
In that first issue, for example, we reported on the traffic death of a young man, Scott Brett of Siloam, who was looking forward to joining the army that fall. Only last week we told you about the latest young fatality, 21-year-old cyclist Lindsey Sanders. There have been far too many in between.
One of our features that first week (the paper was a mammoth 24 pages, seldom equalled since) was about a fascinating feature of the township, the Secord Pet Cemetery. It had been established south of Goodwood in the late 40s by veterinarian Allan Secord, but by 2005, had long run out of room. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority still kept it mowed for the occasional visitor, but when we checked earlier this summer, they’d even stopped doing that. Soon all trace of “Muffy” will be lost.
Our “Our Block” feature (which we promise to revive sometime) spotlighted the remarkable people of Ashworth Road, and we keep reporting on those folks, whether it’s the asparagus at Brooks Farms, the honey of the Staites, or the award-winning Cooper Farm.
And a lot of things haven’t changed. We had a photo feature on Steam Threshing Days, the precursor to Heritage Days (see page 6 this week). We had ads promoting the Fall Fair (see page 12) and the Rotary Club’s Million Dollar Hole in One (pages 8 & 9 this week). We had a review of the Community Band concert; the Band just wrapped its 20th season this past Sunday night.
Some things have changed, though, both in the community and on the paper, even in these six short years. For instance, these businesses advertised with us that first week, and all of them are gone: Cotterill Nurseries, All Life Stages, Mayne Foot Care, Sew Many Fabrics. On page four that week, we published the first of Allan McGillivray’s historical columns, On Heritage Trails, which continued bi-weekly until his retirement a couple of years later as curator of the museum. We’ve never been able to replace him.
That first week, the lion’s share of the articles, as well as most of the photos, were credited to our editor, Conrad Boyce. These days, Conrad has a lot more help, so you won’t see his name very often other than in the masthead on this page.
Conversely, we had a photo in our first issue of the staff of the Cosmos. Including Conrad, there were four of them. That changed quickly, and by our first anniversary, he was the only full-time employee. That continues today. Go by our office late next Tuesday, and you’ll inevitably find him there, putting the paper happily to bed for the 303rd time.
The most important thing that hasn’t changed is that you still enjoy reading our words and perusing our photos, and that our advertisers still trust us to do the job for them. As long as those conditions continue, we look forward to issue #500.
July 14, 2011
