Naperville Patch Celebrates One Year Live and Online

It's funny how quickly time flies by. I was so busy tending to my daily beat that a significant milestone almost slipped my mind.

Today is the one-year anniversary of Naperville Patch. It goes without saying that a lot has happened in our first year: meetings covered, stories written, photos taken, connections made, readers reading, commenters commenting.

On Sept. 8, 2010, Local Editor Carrie Frillman (now the editor in Tinley Park) and I were eagerly anticipating the Naperville Patch launch. We spent weeks and weeks scouring Naperville, gathering information for many of the business and community listings that can be found on the site. Through our trekking around town, we stumbled upon many stories, some of which we wrote about that first week.

We started to introduce ourselves to community leaders, school officials and locals. Many people looked at us sideways, not sure what this Naperville Patch thing was all about. Many people were skeptical. Others were just welcoming.

That first launch day, we wondered whether anyone would read and were happily surprised when locals did. And, in time the numbers began to grow. Our readership continues to build today. 

Patch has more than 800 hyperlocal sites around the county today. When we launched, there were fewer than 100. At that time, was the largest community to have a Patch site and it continues to be the largest Patch site nationwide today.

With so many residents in Naperville, we have had our work cut out for us trying to spread the word about Naperville Patch. And, we have been grateful for our readers who have helped spread the word and grow our readership.

We know that the power is with the people.

When we launched, our goal was to engage our readers, because we want you to be a stakeholder in the site, just as you are stakeholders in the community. We live here, just like you, and want to present you with the information you want to read.

Our readers should share in this celebration. You have played an important part in our success not only because you visit the site and read the stories, view the photos or make comments, but because you also share with us. You share stories about locals whether or , or . Any time a local contacts us with a story idea, we are grateful.

Now that we head into year two, we hope to build upon those relationships that have really only just begun.

To quote Daniel Burnham, “Make no little plans.” And, we promise we won’t. We have big plans for the coming year and look forward to sharing the fun and excitement with you. We hope you will do the same!