Coming of age

This is a very special issue of Oyster Pointer. We are celebrating our 30th anniversary!

It seems like just yesterday that we were touting our 25th year of bringing to the Oyster Point community our unique brand of business news, feature stories, bios of our many friends and neighbors and fascinating stories to keep us informed of news in the neighborhood. And here we are again, with our party hats on to celebrate our 30th.

I must say that way back in 1987, when the first issue of Oyster Pointer was still damp off the press in an original quantity of 500 issues and hand delivered to 15 locations for distribution, I never dreamed that it would meet with such success. But then, I never dreamed that Oyster Point, a new concept for the City of Newport News’s business community, would meet with such astounding acceptance and participation. I remember, as you may also, that back then there were very few original businesses, mostly located in the environs of Thimble Shoals Boulevard. Today that number has astoundingly increased, with Oyster Point businesses, services, eateries… and we’ve all grown up together.

As Oyster Point has grown, so has Oyster Pointer. Today the original Oyster Point Business Park has outgrown its formerly established boundaries to include many neighboring business communities, and Oyster Pointer has been right there. Now in our 30th year, our readership has grown to an amazing 30,000, delivered from 180 distribution locations.

What makes this celebratory issue special is that we’ve invited many of our loyal advertisers and friends to party with us in celebration of their own years of service to our Virginia Peninsula community. They are our partners in growth and have added their own indelible brands to our prestigious business profile. We are forever grateful to them for their support over the years and trust that Oyster Pointer has been a significant factor in their own success.

So there you have it. Happy anniversary to us—and, more importantly, to all of the many supporters who have grown up with us. I think 30 is a good age for us. It represents maturity while keeping in mind our youthful confidence in a bright future.

Yes, I get a wish before blowing out the candles, and I forego the tradition that telling my wish will nullify it. May we all look forward to many more years of serving our friends and neighbors on the Virginia Peninsula with the same quality they have come to rely on from us. We can all be extremely proud of our accomplishments, and we await new challenges that come our way—because age is constantly inspiring.

Sylvia Weinstein is publisher and editor of the Oyster Pointer. She can be reached at Editor@OysterPointer.net or 757-873-4523.