* ONLINE: www.connectionnewspapers.com

* Digital editions of the week's papers are available at www.ConnectionNewspapers.com/PDFs

* Past issues of the Connection are available at http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/

* Advertising information, Special Section details here www.connectionnewspapers.com/advertising Email sales@connectionnewspapers.com or call 703-778-9431

* Send news to editors@connectionnewspapers.com

* Sign up for a free digital subscription at www.ConnectionNewspapers.com/subscribe

* ON FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/connectionnewspapers

* ON INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/connectionnewspapers/

See our “stories” on Facebook and Instagram every day for highlights of events, news, pets and more. 

* LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Email to editors@connectionnewspapers.com 

* Events for our calendar, email to calendars@connectionnewspapers.com or online www.connectionnewspapers.com/Calendar/ 

* DONATE https://gofund.me/8484a551 and watch for a new campaign

About The Gazette in 2024

The Alexandria Gazette Packet, our flagship paper, is perhaps the oldest continuously publishing paper in the United States, beginning in 1784.

At the Gazette and Connection, we still answer the call to serve our communities, with a bit of wonder that we are able to continue at all. We still seek to fulfill our mission by continuing to publish, still printing thousands of copies of our weekly papers every week, and distributing thousands more digitally, with more reach via social media and our website. Certainly our approach and methods are different now.

It’s still our mission to share the joy of our communities. You can find some of that joy every week, and in this community guide. Discover the great places according to the dogs, and history and pleasures provided by the legacy of the former Occoquan Workhouse and Lorton Reformatory, the Workhouse Arts Center and Laurel Hill Park. We share the joy of volunteers addressing hunger and so many other needs.

It’s still our mission to provide information about how to help and where to get help; to tell the stories of the helpers, and of those who are hungry. It’s still our mission to tell the stories of those working for social and racial justice, and battling income inequality.

It is our mission, set out in the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, to press (pun intended) local government for transparency, although this is more and more difficult. The public has a right to expect transparency from local institutions. The founders clearly anticipated the ongoing need for the press to help in this role.

The Mount Vernon Gazette, your community Connection newspaper is published by the independent, locally owned Local Media Connection LLC. 

We are blessed with remarkable, award-winning staff, contributing writers and photographers who are dedicated to our mission. Most have been writing for the Connection/Gazette for years, some for more than a decade (or two, or three). Each brings areas of interest and expertise. Check the bylines. Don’t miss Jeanne Theismann, Janet Barnett, Glenda Booth, Michael Pope, Mike Salmon, Susan Laume, Bonnie Hobbs, Mercia Hobson, Eden Brown, Shirley Ruhel and others.

Local newspapers are facing an existential threat from the combination of nationwide downturn in newspaper advertising that has been worsening over several years, compounded by the economic crisis. 

Revenue has not nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, and we are going to need more help to keep going. We will renew calls for contributions and subscriptions. https://gofund.me/8484a551 

If you value local news and you have a budget for advertising and promotion, please endeavor to spend some of it with local newspapers including ours. 

— Mary Kimm 

mkimm@connectionnewspapers.com