A new look for your friendly neighborhood magazine

By RANDY CAPPS

I’ve been in media for the better part of 30 years, and in that time I’ve learned a few things about my readers.

One such thing is that nobody outside of a newsroom likes a redesign. To be honest, there are plenty of folks inside those walls who feel the same way.

There are plenty of reasons why, but the most simple one is an aversion to change.

People get used to things looking and feeling a certain way. There’s a comfort in picking up your friendly neighborhood magazine and knowing how the fonts will look. You’re never surprised when you turn the pages, because it always looks basically the same.

My favorite uncle had a saying that’s always stuck with me: “Anything that isn’t growing is dying.”

I think there’s truth in that, and despite the fact that 2020 was a challenging year for us in far too many ways to list here, we have an eye on the future here at Johnston Now.

We’re going to be offering digital marketing solutions, we’re looking to expand our content, and, as you might have noticed by now, we’ve updated the pages of the magazine with a fresh, new look.

It’s a bit of a departure from what we’ve been doing, but it seemed to us the perfect way to celebrate our fifth year covering all of Johnston County.

This is the 50th magazine that Shanna and I have done.

Just for fun, we thought we’d take a look back at our journey from our early days as the Four Oaks Journal to where we are now.

If you want to go back and read any of these past editions, visit www.johnstonnow.com/ archives.

MAY 2015 — In our first issue, we told the story of the Weaver family and how egg donation provided them with a pair of blessings in the form of Amrynn and Mason.

JUNE 2015 We put together our first graduation edition, and we learned a lot from the process that we’ve carried over to the future editions.

JULY 2015 Speaking of firsts, this issue turned out to the pilot version of what we now call our summer guide.

AUGUST 2015 There was a ton of Four Oaks-area school news that summer, so we decided to make a theme out of it.

SEPTEMBER 2015 Sometimes, reader submissions take over the magazine. 2015 was a busy baseball summer, it seems.

OCTOBER 2015 In this issue, we decided to shine a spotlight on the fight against Alzheimer’s.

NOVEMBER 2015 In this issue, our old friend Melissa Eakin introduced us to Stanfield’s General Store.

DECEMBER 2015 One of my favorite issues ever, and two of my favorite stories (Christmas Tree and Papa’s Pizza).

JANUARY 2016 I liked this issue, too, because I got to ride in a hot air balloon. Pro tip: Guys should wear a hat.

FEBRUARY 2016 Melissa tells us about James Bryan Creech, and I learned about Butch Baker’s paper chain.

MARCH 2016 A voter’s guide is about as close as we’ve ever been to covering politics inside these pages.

APRIL 2016 For this edition, we took a look at the improvements at GALOT Motorsports Park.

MAY 2016 We celebrated our first year in publishing and the fact that we hadn’t starved to death.

JUNE 2016 Take two of our graduation edition and a decent column about me turning 40.

JULY 2016 Melissa’s tour of Four Oaks continued at a charming bed and breakfast.

AUGUST 2016 In this edition, we went inside the 301 Endless Yard Sale.

SEPTEMBER 2016 I had such a good time checking out Ed Martin’s toy collection.

OCTOBER 2016 In this edition, we had the bright idea of posting parade pictures. We’ve been doing it ever since.

NOVEMBER 2016 The final edition of the Four Oaks Journal, or in “Friends” terms, the one where we announced our big plans.

DECEMBER 2016 For our first edition of JNOW, we debuted our gift guide

JANUARY 2017 You haven’t lived until you’ve had one of Mrs. Joyce’s ham rolls.

FEBRUARY 2017 It’s hard to go wrong with pictures of kids playing in the snow.

MARCH 2017 I got to write about wheelchair basketball and rugby in the same issue.

APRIL 2017 We took a look at the Rudy Theatre and met a local author from Clayton.

MAY 2017 Melissa had a chat with the owners of Howell Theatre, which, of course, had new owners by the time this issue came out.

JUNE 2017 The summer guide, in its current format, makes its debut.

JULY 2017 Pauper’s Books and More is awesome, and this is when I found that out.

AUGUST 2017 I’m typing this at a desk that Mike Pritchett built, and this is where we told his story.

SEPTEMBER 2017 This is the first of several times that my better half has talked me into a wedding edition.

OCTOBER 2017 The summer guide proved to be so popular that we did a fall version, too.

NOVEMBER 2017 This is the issue that almost killed Shanna, since she’s allergic to Christmas trees.

DECEMBER 2017 Our friend Cindy Nañez helped us out for this cover, which is still on the wall behind Shanna’s desk.

JANUARY 2018 A fun issue where I met Shorni Hardy and Pascual Goicoechea.

FEBRUARY 2018 We had a good time helping Pine Level Furniture mark its 105th anniversary.

MARCH 2018 This one went to the dogs. Literally.

APRIL 2018 In this issue, we met a 105-year-old Benson woman and got a first look at Neuse Charter’s robotics program.

MAY 2018 Another cover on the wall of our office is from the first time I wrote about Abby Stephens.

JUNE 2018 Yet another summer guide, but the first with illustrations from the Cary and Clayton School of Creative Arts.

JULY 2018 The first-annual Johnston Now Honors commemorative issue. These always have some of my favorite writing in them.

AUGUST 2018 In this edition, we learned about a project to redevelop the old Clayton Town Hall.

SEPTEMBER 2018 We’ve made a lot of good friends in our time at JNOW, and the folks at Cleveland Family Health are near the top of that list.

OCTOBER 2018 Another fall in Johnston County brought another fall guide.

NOVEMBER 2018 We learned about the Johnston County Workforce Development Center’s new redesign and got one of our first history lessons from our friend Benjamin Sanderford.

DECEMBER 2018 Arden DeBuhr provided one of my favorite covers for this edition.

JANUARY 2019 Shanna talked me into another wedding edition, and I got to write a neat story on South Johnston.

FEBRUARY 2019 My entire knowledge base on elderberry syrup came from this issue.

MARCH 2019 Our friend Melissa Eakin dropped by to tell the story of the Portofino.

APRIL 2019 We were happy to help Clayton celebrate its 150th anniversary.

MAY 2019 We got a bunch of prom pictures, so we made a package out of them.

JUNE 2019 Another summer guide with another cool illustration for the cover from Arden DeBuhr. I also said goodbye to my dog, Abby.

JULY 2019 As always, I had a blast telling the stories of our Johnston Now Honors award winners.

AUGUST 2019 We told the story of Sam’s Flying Scoops, and we learned a little bit about the American Revolution in Johnston County.

SEPTEMBER 2019 We helped celebrate the Benson Little Theatre’s 20th birthday.

OCTOBER 2019 To date, this fall guide features our only depiction of Frankenstein’s monster for a cover.

NOVEMBER 2019 The story of Eastfield Crossing will take years to play out fully, but this was chapter one.

DECEMBER 2019 Ah, JNOW’s favorite things. It was a good idea that proved tough to execute.

JANUARY 2020 This one was probably my favorite wedding issue. Plenty of good stories inside.

FEBRUARY 2020 With the world a few weeks away from turning upside down, we wrote about cornhole.

MARCH 2020 Our first home and garden guide turned out pretty well.

APRIL 2020 We had to scramble a bit, but Raise the Booty made for a nice cover.

MAY 2020 We were well into life with COVID at this point, and I liked what we did for a cover.

JUNE 2020 Our efforts to honor the Class of 2020 is one of my favorite things about last year.

JULY 2020 Our summer guide had a different look, but like everyone else, we adapted.

AUGUST 2020 I enjoyed meeting our new superintendent, Dr. Eric Bracy.

SEPTEMBER 2020 With the sharp decline in events, we had to manufacture some content. The health and fitness guide, born out of necessity, actually went pretty well.

OCTOBER 2020 Honors went virtual and moved back three months, but we still managed to celebrate a group of awesome folks.

NOVEMBER 2020 Remember Mrs. Joyce’s ham rolls? They’re usually available at her brunches around the corner in Pine Level.

DECEMBER 2020 Finally, the 49th issue of the Four Oaks Journal and Johnston Now was the smaller-than-usual holiday guide.