Letter from the editor

from Tour Collierville Magazine - Nov/Dec 2022

THIS IS IT Y’ALL.

Community. It’s what makes Collierville a special place. Over six years and thirty-six issues, Tour Collierville sought to highlight the very best of our town. Our final, bittersweet issue is no different, with our Community shining through as overtly as ever.

In this final publication, we are featuring a limited-edition issue of Tour Collierville originally written in the thick of the pandemic. Its purpose was to bring hope to the town by illustrating how, throughout history, the community has risen during times of trouble. And further, how the town requires this sense of unity today – possibly more than ever. We’ll circle back to that shortly, but first… It’s impossible to give enough thanks to all who have supported Tour Collierville Magazine. So many have poured into making this magazine special, that it’s difficult to type these words with steady hands.

Community Contributors

Writing an article that could be read by fifty thousand people is a daunting task, even for professionals. But most of our community contributors were not journalists or writers of any kind. It was ordinary Collierville residents who sat in front of an empty screen and blinking cursor in search of words that would bring value to our community. In fact, most articles were provided by ministers, doctors, business leaders, real estate experts, health and fitness professionals, home designers, town officials, non-profits, and other locals. We are extremely grateful for those who took time and care to help fill these pages over the last six years.

Community Socials

Musicians often say the most gratifying aspect of their career journey is when a live audience knows the words to their songs. Likewise is our feelings of pride and validation, when walking through crowds of people eager to have their picture taken for the magazine. We’ve been privileged to attend countless events and capture them in images for the history

books. We’ll still see you there; we’ll just no longer be the ones with a media lanyard and a camera.

Life Changes

We’ve been honored to highlight engagements, weddings, and even some passings. To be even a small part of these emotional times in the lives of our readers is an indescribable experience.

High School Heroes

We’re not cool. Knowing this from the jump, we needed Collierville’s kids to give us cred and keep us young. For this, we sincerely appreciate all the kids who participated in photo shoots, cover art, and stories. Watching you grow in sports, music, academics, and more was rewarding. It was our local kids being themselves that was the most refreshing. And if you didn’t like being in the magazine, at least feel good that your parents and grandparents enjoyed seeing you. We know because they all stopped by asking for copies! Special thanks here to all the parents who allowed their kids to participate, too.

Advertisers

Holy smokes, producing and distributing a magazine is expensive! Here’s the thing: you can look at all the advertisers in the magazine as wanting to get their message in front of you, our Collierville residents. You’d be right, and that has value to you, in and of itself. But we’d be remiss to leave out the fact that they are responsible for all the features, photography, directories, and articles. We’re confident that every advertiser in Tour Collierville was invested in helping support a Collierville business and in bringing your local stories to light.

Our Readers

We like to say that Collierville loves our magazine because you are our magazine. At one point we had a 3rd party readership audit performed. Well, you guys blew us away. Even the audit company made a comment that our ratios were some of the highest they’d seen. But we don’t flatter ourselves. We know that the Collierville community supports its own, and we’re just happy to have ridden the wave. From day one, Collierville has read, shared, and referred Tour Collierville. YOU made us feel at home.

Written during the lockdowns of 2020, the story of Fire + Wind included here is a nostalgic reflection of Collierville’s community coming together in trying times. It illustrates how the Giants, of whose shoulders we stand on today, stood together as family to help those in need. Our hope is that as you read through Fire + Wind, the story inspires you as it has us and the locals who lived it. Collierville, to this day, thrives by being a community first. Neighbors helping neighbors. Charitable organizations, general kindness, and even just friendly nods at the grocery store are what makes Collierville special.

As Collierville weathers new storms, this final issue illustrates how our community continually comes together in support of those affected. While today’s challenges might be less apparent, they are equally as menacing – threatening the nature of community itself.

To remain strong, we cannot allow the lines that have been drawn nationally to become

cracks in our local foundation. Remaining a strong community takes patience and empathy. It means thinking twice before making that angry social media post, looking beyond yard signs and bumper stickers to understand the neighbor behind them, and practicing patience with our local officials, government, and school board. It’s crucial that we lift folks up instead of tearing them down. We find unity by seeing through the lens of “Collierville Green” instead of Red or Blue. Collierville’s 150-year anniversary theme was “Shine a Light.” With an original aim of highlighting all the great aspects of our town to its residents. Today, this theme represents an opportunity for our community to shine bright as a model of unity among so many who are divided. An opportunity to spread the love, kindness, and caring we see in each of you. We must be the Giant shoulders on which the next generation will stand. As our final issue is enclosed in the following pages, that means this is our last Editor’s Letter. Signing off, we rest easy knowing there’s not enough words, pictures, or pages to fully capture the goodness of Collierville’s community. Let it shine.

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