Help Wanted
Sam's Pizza, a family-owned fixture in Upshur County since 1991, is adding delivery drivers to its team of more than two dozen at its Buckhannon location. Applicants are asked to apply in person at 9 Southfork Plaza Drive. Read more →
This story brought to you paywall-free, courtesy of the My Buckhannon team and our community partners
As My Buckhannon turns eight this weekend, we’ve been busy getting the place ready to party.
Over the past year, we’ve added games, expanded local job listings, built an events calendar and brought back our online store. We’ve also made it easier to log in, find your favorite coverage and gift someone a membership. Taken together, there’s enough new stuff to give this birthday a name: My Buckhannon 8.0.
Most of these changes have arrived quietly over the past several months. They share a simple goal: help you find out what’s happening around Upshur County, then leave you more time to enjoy it.
The daily Buckhannon Banter is a big part of that. These roundups bring together the smaller announcements, activities and updates that can be easy to miss in a busy social media feed. It took a few tries to get the format working well, but Banter is now among our most-read coverage. You can catch up on the local happenings without getting drawn into an argument in the comments. You’ll have to arrange that entertainment yourself.
The events calendar takes that a step further. Looking for something to do next Saturday? Pick a day and browse. You can narrow the calendar to your interests, look ahead to next month or add sports to the mix. Finding plans for the weekend shouldn’t be an all-day project.
Our expanded job listings bring the same convenience to job hunting. Openings that might otherwise be scattered across company websites, job boards and social media now have a home together. Anyone can browse the listings for free, and businesses can purchase featured listings to give their openings more attention.
There’s a little friendly competition available, too, through our Missing Ink headline game and the Carpenter’s Crunch Time weekly football pick ’em. Here’s a chance to put your football expertise on record.
Our online store carries the Band of Brothers scenic calendar as a fundraiser. The group receives the full purchase amount, with us covering the processing fees and the 10% premium member discount. It’s a chance to pick up a calendar and help a local group at the same time.
All those additions sit alongside the work that fills My Buckhannon every day: in-depth reporting on this community.
Monica Zalaznik, Duane Carpenter and I are out attending government meetings, talking with local residents, previewing upcoming events and going to Rotary. We’re Chamber of Commerce members. You’ll find us on the sidelines and in the stands, covering Buckhannon-Upshur and West Virginia Wesleyan College sports.
Behind that coverage is a small local business with employees who work and live right here in Upshur County. My Buckhannon receives no government funding. Memberships and community partnerships pay for the work we do.
That gives readers a direct say in our success. A membership is a choice, and we have to keep making it worth your while. Every update, story and afternoon spent covering a game is part of earning that support.
It also puts an independent set of eyes and ears in government meetings and courtrooms. Most people can’t work those stops into their daily lives. Your membership helps put a reporter there so you can keep up with the decisions and events that affect your community.
We cover courts, crime and difficult news along with the celebrations. Some stories are ones we wish we didn’t have to write, but fair, accurate reporting is part of looking after a place we care about. Upshur County is home, and we want it to succeed.
Our community has its struggles. But there are also people working hard here every day, and we can help more neighbors discover what they’re doing. An event on the calendar, a job opening or a little item in Banter can give someone a reason to get involved.
Eight years in, we’re grateful to everyone who makes this possible: our members, community partners and the people who keep giving us so much to cover.
So have your coffee, browse the daily digest email, make your football picks and find something fun to do around town. Thanks for making My Buckhannon part of your day — and for helping us get to birthday number eight.
