News & Features
Celebrating Ten Years
By VN Staff
Aug 20, 2008 - 10:18:15 AM

Burt Shoosmith, now deceased, was featured in the second issue of the Chester Village News in 1998.

This week, the Village News will be celebrating a birthday: its own. The weekly that serves a little less than half of Chesterfield County was born on the dining room table of Mark and Linda Fausz on August 20, 1998.

The first issue featured a well-known local figure at the time, Stan the Hot Dog Man. He sold hot dogs from a cart near the Chester gazebo. He has taken his retirement seriously; his stainless steel cart with its colorful umbrella has found a new owner.

Unlike Stan and his hot dog business, the Village News is not fading into retirement, but continues to grow. Beginning as a bi-weekly (every other week), Chester-only publication, the paper became a weekly in 1999 and expanded to cover all areas in southeastern Chesterfield by 2001. Circulation has also grown from 5,000 to 11,000 over the last 10 years.

Mirroring its readers, the Village News has covered the best of times and the worst of times. From high school state championships to mourning the loss of our passed youth and celebrating our vast history to sharing emotions in the wake of 9/11 and the Virginia Tech shootings, the Village News has tried to be a neighbor.

Those who produce this newspaper each week have always seen this community as home-living here and working here, not only caring about the story but about the people who make this community great. 

It has been a privilege to get to know this community, which has such a diverse culture and such intelligent people with a magnitude of interests and who are more giving than one could ever imagine. There are so many local folks who have selflessly given so much of their time, money, and creativity to our hometown that it’s humbling just to be able to tell their story.

There’s not enough space here to repeat all the unique and interesting stories here, but if you tally the numbers, it’s amazing to imagine that our community has so many positive things happening. In the 495 issues that have carried the Village News banner, over six million words have been written about local people, their accomplishments, and the places they live.

The Village News has been fortunate to interview, and have conversations with, notables such as Cong. Randy Forbes, former Governor and candidate for Senate Mark Warner, Gov. Tim Kaine and Senator Jim Webb, and other state and local politicians. Robert Kennedy Jr., Michael York, David Baldacci, Peter Bogdanovich, and Carl Bernstein are among others that a small weekly newspaper wouldn’t typically get a chance to converse with.

Big stories, although some we would rather have not had to cover, must have been presented by God’s hand alone. Hurricane Isabel, Tropical Storm Gaston, the demonstration against the white supremacist meeting at the Chester Library, and the fall of a Chesterfield supervisor, have not been the most enjoyable events to cover.

But the stories of the wonderful lives of just folks, great sports, and school activities always make up for the worst.

Here’s to a great community, and a heartfelt thank you for 10 years of support. Support from advertisers, readers, and great citizens have made it easy for the Village News to live by its motto: your community, your neighbors, your news.

© Copyright by Village Publishing LLC