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Corey Miller
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Corey Miller
Morgan Sanders
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Corey Miller
Susan McFadden
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Corey Miller
Chris Jones
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Corey Miller
Lisa Shivers
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Corey Miller
Corey Miller
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Corey Miller
Margaret Cruggs
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Bruce Nelson
If ever there was any doubt that it takes a village to imagine, create and distribute a regional lifestyle magazine, The Local Scoop’s decade of publishing in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula is proof positive that it does. First published in late spring 2011, the magazine has become part of the cultural landscape, celebrating its tenth anniversary this spring.
Over subsequent years, the magazine covered local people and businesses, history, culture, food and wine and just about everything in between. With an eye to an additional market, a second edition geared for greater Williamsburg was launched in late fall 2015, helping to tie together the rural Northern Neck, the suburban Middle Peninsula and the historic colonial town of Williamsburg. Given the continuing effects of the COVID pandemic and the resulting economic fallout, the decision was made to combine the two editions in 2021.
Susan McFadden became a publisher almost by accident. When another regional lifestyle publication went belly up in 2011, it left a hole for readers eager to know what was happening locally. She decided to plug it by starting her own publication. “We were all graphic designers with advertising agency backgrounds, and it was a labor of love from the very beginning,” she recalls. “We set out to include stories that interested us using creative storytelling and packaging it in a visually appealing way.”
When a customer walks into Burkes Fine Jewelers and wants to know how much a piece of jewelry they saw in a magazine costs, owner Karen Burke knows they saw it in The Local Scoop because it’s the only magazine in which she advertises. “It’s so full of information, that it not only helps the people who are reading it, it helps the advertisers in it,” she says. “And it’s such a well-done magazine, it’s a cool thing to have on your coffee table.”
She’s quick to give full credit to senior art director Margaret Cruggs, with whom she’d worked since 2006 through her Northern Neck boutique ad agency, Open Door Communications. “We’ve all grown a lot from doing this,” McFadden says. “As a team, we start with an idea and it evolves through lots of discussion, which makes for a much better publication.” Part of the magazine’s evolution can be attributed to the changes in the region as more people moved here and the population grew more diverse.
In an effort to be welcoming to all, the magazine is designed to make readers, as she puts it, “come away with information that makes the world feel a little bit brighter.” Part of that goal includes wanting readers to look at the ads to appreciate small business owners and be proud of what these people have accomplished in a rural area. “What’s interesting is that residents want to hold on to the culture here,” she explains. “The people who’ve moved here are as protective of our culture as those who were raised here, and the people who don’t adapt often move on.”
Over the past 10 years, The Local Scoop Northern Neck/Middle Peninsula edition has been published twice a year, aligning with the seasonal ebb and flow of the region. The Williamsburg edition was published quarterly. Going into the magazine’s second decade, McFadden made the decision to merge the two editions and, beginning in 2022, publish four times a year. Although COVID has changed everything, ironically, the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula have seen an influx of new residents who want to enjoy the area’s open spaces and small towns. “Many of our local small businesses are thriving, while the adverse impact of the pandemic has been more significant in Williamsburg,” McFadden explains. “But the synergy between the peninsulas is robust, so a singular edition that’s distributed region-wide is advantageous to the magazine’s bottom line and to the advertisers.”
Carol Mead Smith, owner of Relish Restaurant and Wine Bar in Warsaw, is a long-time advertiser, but also a devoted reader of the magazine. “Besides how attractive it is and how knowledgeable about life around here, I really respect the integrity of the magazine,” she says. “I grew up here, yet theLocal Scoop has introduced me to things I didn’t know about. It’s a great asset to the community.”
Although Morgan Sanders is Susan McFadden’s daughter, she’s worked her way up in the company on her own merits. Starting by, as she says, “answering phones, filing paperwork and taking out the garbage,” she graduated to selling ads, managing the bookkeeping and taking on the role of production manager, acting as liaison between clients, graphic designers and art directors. By the time she’d had her second child in December 2018, McFadden promoted her to editor, managing the entire production.
“When I got that promotion, panic set in,” Sanders says with a laugh. “But by then, I had an amazing community of clients to be understanding as I was learning. Some were very excited about the magazine being run by a 30-something and I knew how lucky I was to have my Mom as a mentor.” Sanders’ plan going forward was to ensure that the content stayed fresh, timely and original, meaning she felt no need to compete with other area publications.
Carrying on through the pandemic, she’s overseeing the merging of the Northern Neck/Middle Peninsula edition with the Williamsburg edition. “Our advertisers recognize the value of a combined issue concept,” she explains, citing how people in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula already go to Williamsburg to shop or have fancy dinners, while it’s not uncommon for Williamsburg residents to have family or cottages at the river.
“They have faith in The Local Scoop to convey why the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula—including Gloucester and Mathews—and Williamsburg are so special and why those places shine,” Sanders says. “Having that support from my own community is super rewarding.” Impressed with the resiliency of the area’s small businesses during the pandemic, she marvels that businesses continue to open. “And the reason for that is because they’re thinking outside the box, so my job is to think outside the box, too.”
As The Local Scoop’s art director since before the magazine’s inception, Margaret Cruggs is justifiably proud of how the magazine’s look has become more streamlined and sophisticated over the years. “I try to give each story something unique, so it has its own life,” she explains. “I think of the stories as brothers and sisters, but I want them to look like they’re all part of one family.”
She appreciates how the editorial focus has shifted since Sanders, who has a degree in interior design and lived for several years in Chicago, took over as editor, bringing with her a new perspective. Sanders is hands-on at photo shoots, using her talents as a stylist to elevate the magazine’s look, an artistic contribution Cruggs can see when designing the issue’s overall look. “We try to bring the reader in with visuals and then keep them there with the writers’ words,” she says. “To be truly engaging, you have to do both.”
Photography is central to The Local Scoop’s look and its appeal to readers. Bruce Nelson was staff photographer from 2012 through 2019 and his fresh, dynamic photos helped create the magazine’s signature look. ‘What I recall most is the growth I experienced as a photographer,” he says. “The work came at a good time for me professionally, expanding my horizons and skills.” Whether shooting a dozen brewery owners for a cover or a new restaurant’s signature dish, he remembers the shoots as thoroughly enjoyable.
“The magazine always had a lot of integrity and was shoulders above other free publications,” Nelson says. “Aside from the friendships with Susan, Morgan and Margaret, I cherish the years I worked at The Local Scoop for the experience it gave me. I never would have had that with other clients.”
Heather Tompkins, the Local Scoop’s original sales representative, was pictured on the cover of the first issue with Griff, a wire-haired Pointing Griffon, along an Urbanna Creek beach. Tompkins moved to the Northern Neck in the summer of 2009. After joining the Local Scoop team in 2010, she became responsible for building the advertising base in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, a job she excelled at for five years.
Of the early days trying to sell ads when they had only a flyer to show prospective clients, Tompkins recalls how she’d drop her children off at school and spend the day driving around the Northern Neck. “People were still hurting from the Great Recession, so they were reluctant to part with their money,” she says. But once the first issue came out, a whole new round of advertisers were eager to sign on.
“Even though the group had never produced a magazine before, there was so much talent and it was great to be part of that,” she acknowledges. “It was exciting once the community saw it and really liked our product. It was such a great feeling all around and for my part, I felt like I did make a difference.”
As far as getting the word out about local small businesses, Brandan Minor, owner of Organic Green Lawn Care, is grateful for how the magazine reaches so many readers. “It helps spread information about small businesses throughout the community,” he says. “Plus, it gives information that people who come in and out of the area might not otherwise know about. The Local Scoop gives back to the community and the community gives back to us.”
Lisa Shivers joined the team in early 2015. She was the primary sales representative in Williamsburg, but as a 25-year resident of White Stone, she’d assisted Sanders with clients in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula already. In doing so, she’d seen how the advertising base evolved over time. “We’re so fortunate to have advertisers in all of the regions we serve who’ve supported us from the beginning,” she says. “But there’s also a revolving door of new businesses or existing businesses under new ownership that come and go.” She’s learned never to assume that a visit, email or phone call gone unanswered automatically means the client isn’t interested. “Everyone has their own stuff going on and so often those busy clients come through when I reach out to them in the eleventh hour, which is always a nice surprise,” Shivers says. “I’ve learned to never give up!”
As editor of the former Williamsburg edition, Chris Jones sought to diversify the magazine from a focus on the visitor/Colonial Williamsburg side to more of Williamsburg’s family scene. In addition to soliciting stories from the magazine’s advisory board, he followed many local businesses on Instagram looking for interesting angles and used his general curiosity to discover things worth writing about. “People want local good news that’s relatable to them, so we were always looking for the story within a story, to have a different angle to share with readers,” Jones says. “We tried to show that the people living, working and playing here are likely to be your neighbors. It’s about making people tangible to our readers.”
Corey Miller has been staff photographer since summer 2019, signing on because he thought it was the best art-directed magazine published locally. A third-generation photographer, his grandfather Ardean Miller III received the prestigious Leica Award in 1937 and was the first photographer to use color film in World War II. “So, taking pictures comes quite naturally to me,” he says, touting the entire process. “It’s gratifying to show up on set, meet your subjects, take great photos and see them printed.”
For a holiday cover of the Local Scoop Williamsburg edition, he set out to recreate a Norman Rockwell painting with a young girl holding a doll on a front stoop. “The doll in the picture is an original kewpie doll, part of my grandmother’s doll collection, which she’d given to my daughter,” Miller says, adding that he’d gone door to door asking homeowners if he could use their stoop as a location for the shot. “It’s paramount that I get a great image that tells a story using emotion and environment.”
Whitney Lang, the office manager at Randall Kipp Architecture, sees the magazine’s strength in its ability to make the connections for readers between people, places and experiences. “For visitors and new residents,
I see it as kind of a guidebook, almost a welcome into our local VIP club,” she says. “From a business perspective, the magazine does an excellent job at supporting and promoting local businesses, and not just in the magazine, but on the website, which is attractive and easy to navigate. Their social media presence is wonderful, bringing attention to local businesses.”
One of her favorite things about the magazine is that she always sees familiar faces on the cover, rather than places or buildings. “The people on the covers are people I see at the hardware store or at Willaby’s and that’s what sets The Local Scoop apart from other magazines.”
The only magazine Brittany Rolston advertises in is The Local Scoop and that’s because of how supportive the magazine’s staff has been of her business, The Shoe Attic. “A woman came in with a broken ankle solely because she’d seen our ad in the magazine while she was in the hospital,” Rolston shares. “She couldn’t even wear the shoes yet, but she wanted to come in and buy them for when she could. I’m known as ‘the shoe lady’ because of the Local Scoop.”
After a career as a military photojournalist, Terry Cosgrove now owns The Art of Coffee in Montross with his partner, Holly Harmon. They readily acknowledge how the magazine has affected their business in a positive way. “We get decent drive-by business,” Cosgrove says. “But there’s no question, the business wouldn’t have the visibility it does with people on the lower peninsula without The Local Scoop.”
It’s not just small businesses, but long-time institutions such as Christchurch School that extoll the benefits of having exposure in The Local Scoop. Wes Charlton is an alumnus as well as the Director of Advancement at the school. “The magazine has done an exceptional job of understanding who they serve, with content that’s spot-on and feels intimate,” he says, pointing to the magazine’s profiles, whether of individuals, families or groups. “We know these people, but we get to learn more about them through these features about them. I like how the stories we read remind us of things and people in the community we might have forgotten about.”
When it comes to looking at publications in general, Charlton much prefers reading online, except when it comes to The Local Scoop. “I like having the magazine in hand,” he notes. “Part of that is because they do a great distribution job, and I can pick up the magazine at multiple places within a few miles of my house.
Between compelling story ideas, imaginative execution and extensive distribution, The Local Scoop has comfortably settled into its niche in the region, yet the staff’s enthusiasm remains as high as ever. Even after ten years of producing the magazine, Susan McFadden still gets a thrill every time she holds a new issue in her hands.
Despite the long and involved process to get the magazine to the printer and the fact that she’s completely familiar with its contents, that initial look resonates every time. “Seeing the people and places I’m familiar with throughout the magazine makes me feel joyful and happy,” she admits. “I feel like, in a small way, The Local Scoop enhances every community we serve.”
Thank You for Your Support.
—From Your Friends at The Local Scoop.
Credits:
Morgan’s top and earrings from The Rivah in Kilmarnock. | Lisa’s top from When Ordinary Won’t Do in Kilmarnock. | Susan’s poncho from The Dandelion in Irvington. | Cake and cupcakes by Extraordinary Cupcakes in Williamsburg. | Floral cake decoration by The Wild Bunch in Kilmarnock. | Balloons and party favors styled by River Party Boutique in White Stone.
Do you want to know more about The Local Scoop magazine and how advertising with us works for your business? Call or email Morgan Sanders or Lisa Shivers today.
Advertising Sales
Northern Neck - Morgan Sanders: 804-450-0556, morgan@localscoopmagazine.com
Middle Peninsula and Williamsburg - Lisa Shivers: 804-577-3238, lisa@localscoopmagazine.com
