By Joe Bachman
Multimedia Editor

We’ve seen a lot in these twenty years as a home-grown news publication. Within our pages, we have written countless stories of the place we call home — Portage County.

Rising from the ashes of a increasingly downtrodden local news industry in 1999, the Portage County Gazette has taken many shapes and sizes throughout the past two decades. We have been honored to have many talented writers and contributors grace our offices, and the pleasure of providing the most comprehensive source of local news, both in print and online.

However, what remains in the utmost prominence, is you. Because without you, the Portage County Gazette simply would not exist. Every time you pick up an issue to read the latest headlines, commentaries, or local sports, know that there is no disconnection between yourself and these pages.

This is your story.

While the chapters are continuous, and many plot twists and turns lie therein over the decades, our publication is collectively your story. This is the telling of how our community has grown, evolved, and what the future holds for Portage County. As a paper of record for Stevens Point, the entries in our publication will be timeless, and that’s the way it should be.

This is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of the art of journalism that is often lost in our over-stimulated social construct. The idea that great journalism and balanced reporting goes beyond “keeping them honest”, but the idea that the ongoing tale of our community is being written daily.

If you’ve been with us since the beginning, or are a new subscriber, I humbly thank you for being a part of our story. If you are not a subscriber, I welcome you to be a part of something bigger than any one of us — our collective story.