Seven Days is 15! 

Inevitably, that’ll sound like a lot of years to some, while 1995 seems like “just yesterday” to others. Either way, we take it as a compliment that so many Vermonters seem unable to remember a time without Seven Days. We’d like to think we’ve become an integral part of life in this state, for the role we play in reflecting our shared community. We hope you learn something new about this place every time you read the paper, check the website or open one of our e-newsletters.

Today’s technology has allowed Seven Days to grow into a multimedia company. But, in defiance of national trends, the weekly print product is still very much in demand here. We have to restock distribution hot spots such as Burlington’s City Market four times a week and still get calls from businesses around the state that want stacks of papers delivered to them. There’s nothing more gratifying to us than seeing adults of all ages pore over the pages of a fresh edition on Wednesday afternoons.

Businesses advertise with Seven Days because they want to reach you, our readers. We use those resources to investigate, and report on, the community we live in. We also support it by publicizing events, issues and worthy causes. Seven Days has sponsored so many nonprofit events and fundraisers over the past 15 years, there isn’t space to list them all. It’s an honor to live in a place with so many active, engaged people who want to improve things. Seven Days employees are among them.

Local media facilitate civic engagement, and Vermont is blessed with numerous weeklies that truly enhance their towns. Publishers who live in the communities they cover know and care about them with an intimacy that eludes national media chains. You can support local media by patronizing their advertisers, who are most likely mom-and-pops themselves. Your hometown newspaper is the media equivalent of a fresh Vermont veggie: sustainable, job creating, healthy and homemade. So, dig in. We promise to keep providing local color, essential nutrients and a satisfying crunch.

More on Seven Days' 15th Birthday:

• Early Adopters: A look back at the advertisers in the first issue of Seven Days.
• So Far, So Good: Readers share their personal stories about Seven Days.
• State of the Arts looks at the local arts scene in 1995.
• 1995 in Food News asks what was juicy in the early years of Seven Days -- before we had a food section.
• Soundbites reveals Dan Bolles's picks for Vermont's hippest tunes in 1995.
• Fair Game takes a look at the 1995 political and media landscape.