Where is SFM Growing and Why
January 1, 2020 | by rebecca stewart | photo by jana graham photography
For a dozen years, Simply Family Magazine has created a link between families and this community we call home. As time marched on, the original intent of supporting and connecting families through their journey has always remained the same, but now in 2020, we're expanding our pages in a way that has Family becoming one piece of a larger, more whole-community, puzzle.
Introducing Simply Local, where you’ll find the tone remains the same, but now you’ll get more of what you’ve come to know and love. We’re taking the local niche that we’ve been focusing on families and widening that to include the community as a whole.
In these fresh pages, you will notice, first, that as you look for our magazine on the stands, our covers will have a more inclusive vibe welcoming all readers to our pages. You'll still see our precious local families represented within the pages each month, leading the way to our FAMILY section.
Simply Local is all about heart. We're not changing our heart or our values; we're simply diving deeper and giving ourselves the space to expand, giving you more. Because…
Sometimes, more is more.
Inside, you’ll first encounter the LOCAL section, where we’ll explore things happening in our community and how they affect us. It’s the space where we can shine a light on the bright spots; people and places that Billings has to offer. In the FAMILY section, we'll focus on the ages and stages and still be that space where parents, grandparents, and families feel seen and heard. Part of a village. We’re especially excited to pull GRAZE fully into the pages, where it’s all about the yum. You’ll find recipes, go behind the scenes with local chefs, and deep dive into all things food. The HOME section continues to be our destination that aims to help us love where we live.
And, as it always has, our community calendar will wrap up each issue – connecting you to our community’s happenings in a very tangible way. Expect more diverse happenings, still organized in a way that helps you find what you’re looking for on any given day.
Oh, and of course, you can look forward to the Camp Guide hitting the stands in April!
Over these 12 years, Simply Family Magazine has grown from being a 10-month a year publication to 12. We’ve experienced changes of all kinds within these pages, to now adapting to the times and people’s tastes. Even in the span of this decade, the times have changed significantly. How we live, how we parent is constantly evolving. We recognize that our readers can get lost in these pages; it’s a getaway you can hold in your hands.
We've prided ourselves in being a collection of feel-good, positive stories that highlight the best of Billings. While we're aware no community is perfect, we strive to pull to the forefront the areas where we shine. It’s all too easy to get mired down in the negatives, and these pages offer a reprieve from that. And yet, life is not all roses and sunshine, so we tackle the difficult things that people experience with the hope of helping them through it, “we talk about hard things with a different heart,” explains Jenny Barriger, SFM co-founder.
As Simply Family Magazine has always been a free resource to our community, so will it remain as Simply Local. We continue to be a resource built by us and the businesses in our community to be free and enjoyable to our readers. Cheers to a New Year where more is wonderfully more.
Originally printed in the January 2020 issue of Simply Local Magazine
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