Web development is hard! After a week offline, we’re back but with some kinks, still. Here’s what’s coming…
So it’s been a busy March at East Falls Local — or, rather “The Local” as you’ll notice in our new banner, here and in our free monthly publication. Seems people were calling us The Local already so we figured it was a good name to roll with as we expanded into nearby neighborhoods.
East Falls, of course, will always be our heart! We live here and this is where we started digging into Hohenadel beer history on EastFallsHouse.com, and where we jumped blindly into community news back in 2014 — when we literally published from a website called MakeMyNewspaper.com! Wow how far we’ve come…
Back then, we knew that “traditional” news was dying and “hyperlocal” seemed an empty buzzword that was hard to define. One thing we knew we didn’t want to be, however, was nondescript. So we wrote from our hearts, covering East Falls not like reporters but neighbors. And folks here took notice.
The feedback was not always favorable (ha), but people were talking! Neighbors began sharing opinions about zoning, traffic, business, parks, schools, the crazy new newspaper in town… And bit by bit, the community adapted to reflect these new voices. Four years later we’ve got a brewery, a beer garden, traffic improvements, a new RCO, a playground coming to McMichael Park and a host of cool events popping up in surprising places. We’ve still got storefronts to fill and a river trail to develop, yet, but there’s no denying East Falls has vibe now.
Our paper, too, has changed a lot since 2014. Used to be just the two of us covering meetings, and now we’re thrilled to feature fiction, humor, history, memoirs, profiles — even a Pizza Ninja! In 2017, CultureWorks of Greater Philadelphia took notice, and took us under their Humanities wing promoting free, independent local press. Thanks to a generous grant from Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, this year we’ve rebranded to include contributors throughout NW Philadelphia, and share new stories from the “front lines” of developing neighborhoods.
Thank you for your patience as we find our way forward — with the new Local, and with this re-designed website that’s still being tweaked. Apologies for slow load times, broken links, image size issues, and other growing pains you might encounter as we streamline our site architecture over the next few weeks. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email us or comment below.
As always, the door’s always open for submissions! Authors, artists, designers, photographers, makers of all kinds — reach out and we’ll get back with guidelines and a current “wish list” of content we’re currently seeking. Thanks again! Standby for good stuff at The Local.
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