Happy holidays and
Happy birthday to North Simcoe life!

—by Anna Proctor

Happy birthday to us! Happy birthday to us!
Happy birthday North Simcoe life! Happy birthday to us!

It was 20 years ago, this month, that Steve and I bought what was then North Simcoe Community News. It was owned by Susan Woods and her husband Fred Beck, who had bought it eight years previously. It was an eight-times-a-year, print, tabloid sized paper, which was mailed out to every home in Oro-Medonte, Severn, and Ramara.

Steve had done some work on their website, and I wrote the Hawkestone news for their publication. When he heard it was for sale, he said to me, “You should buy it, and we could run it together. We could make it great!”

So, we did!

We made a couple of changes right out of the gate. We dropped Ramara (Sorry, Ramara, but you didn’t have the ad sales to support all that extra print and postage!). And we decided to put out six issues a year, instead of eight, since we both had a lot else going on in our lives.

Over the next 20 years, lots of other changes came along, some our own ideas, some borne out of necessity!

Our first issue was February 2006, so, over the entire coming 2026 year, we will be looking back at back issues, old photos (yoicks, were we really THAT young?), remembering old stories, old friends, and sharing our journey with you, our dear readers.

Of course, we will also have a couple of great events planned, so we can get together, and we will definitely have some fab contests and prizes for you over our entire twentieth anniversary year!

Please read this last issue of 2025 with love, admiration, and joy. All that goes into every issue we bring to you!

Happy holidays and a wonderful 2026 to us all!

—background photo by Deb Halbot