People ask me all the time, how do you come up with story ideas? How have you done this so beautifully all these years?
I tell them the stories usually find me. And this issue is just the latest example.
This is also an anniversary issue. Wrightsville Beach Magazine began work in October 2000, publishing its first issue in December that year. Back then my day job was as a real estate broker and my night gig was writing all the stories and helping with the layouts, done then in paste-up, not digitally.
Looking back at more than two decades of creative work, it stuns me to reflect on the stories we have told.
The most wonderful aspect about having led this team for more than two decades is all the wonderful people, and all the incredible stories I have heard and had the privilege to share.
We’ve had stellar teams of creative people, and we’ve met some astounding individuals — young to old, rich to poor, famous to nobodies.
A number of our staff members and interns have gone on to great things in publishing and photography.
Without this occupation, I don’t believe I would have met all the special people that the magazine gave me access to. Not to mention many who’ve become friends. That’s priceless.
One of my favorite memories is the annual Christmas parties the magazine threw when we rented vast office space at The Landing at Wrightsville Beach.
Each December we would decorate the building, the trees out front, and the atrium. There were ice sculptures and music on two floors and the whole town came to roam from room to room and enjoy the full-on feast.
That was in the boom years. That last community Christmas party was admittedly noteworthy, sadly followed by the economic bust that engulfed our community, state and nation.
When strangers ask me what I do here, I typically answer, I do a lot of things. I’m the one that buys the toilet paper. I take out the garbage. The glam jobs. However, the writing, the discovery of and telling the story well, that’s my favorite part.
It wasn’t planned but I have one of those drop-in-your-lap, once-in-a-lifetime-stories for you in this issue.
I went to see a piece of property a friend had purchased and trusted me to write about. As I dug into the story, it kept getting more amazing and more thrilling. So, my Christmas gift to all of you is the story of the most significant sale of property in our county and probably our state’s coast in our lifetime.
The beauty of the property rivals anything I’ve seen. The peace and calm is tangible. I was instantly hooked. As I delved into the story, I discovered historical facts that make this one of the most unique remaining properties of our time. It’s an unfolding story; a full history is not yet written.
It’s the story of a property that sheltered and fed this land’s earliest people, American Indians, settlers, pirates, defenders, and families with children, grandchildren and their children. It’s the story of loving the land and the ancient trees on it, wanting to protect it through the generations. You’re gonna love it.
John Fred Newber tells us his story of growing up in the “town” of Seagate, in the wooded forests of Bradley Creek and the holly stand he had at Christmas. Newber is a delightful writer and this is a perfect holiday story.
Robert Rehder gives us the history of re-establishing wild turkeys in North Carolina.
We also tell the story of a program in New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon’s office that is changing the lives of children who really are out of options. I have witnessed firsthand the difference his office’s ELEMENTS program can make in a child’s life. Our county tax dollars help fund it. It has always surprised me, when I mention the program, that few have knowledge of it. Now, we share it with you.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. Merry Christmas.
— Pat Bradford, Senior Editor/Publisher