Introducing The Forgottonia Times™
Hannah Chatterton - The Forgottonia Times™
We are proud to present the inaugural edition of Forgottonia Times, your new monthly source for local events and stories across Knox, Warren, McDonough, and Fulton Counties. In an era of digitized news and outsourcing to news conglomerates, local stories often go underreported or ignored. Enter Forgottonia Times—a newspaper wholly owned and operated by young adults born, raised, and choosing to invest in this area.
Our deep commitment to the community drives our belief in this newspaper's potential to strengthen our area and engage local residents. Forgottonia Times aims to become a refreshing source of local news, informing residents about their area's unique qualities and happenings. This is a newspaper for the locals, by the locals.
Forgottonia Times was born out of a desire to fill the void left by conglomerate-owned newspapers that lack a genuine connection to the area. Our reporters will always be residents dedicated to the community's success. Despite the prevailing sentiment that our area is declining, we see potential for growth. Like farmers tending their crops, we believe our community needs care to flourish. We envision a robust community connected through a central news source that highlights blossoming individuals, organizations, businesses, and events.
We cover everything from town festivals to local history, the best restaurants, school sports, and human interest stories. Our goal is to foster connections between Knox, Fulton, McDonough, and Warren Counties, encouraging residents to explore and support each other's events, restaurants, and businesses.
Forgottonia Times is committed to supporting local businesses by offering various sizes and placements of ad space and promoting products and services to a wider audience across all four counties. Our newspaper is sent to 50,000 plus doors in all four counties free of charge, reaching a broader audience than traditional subscription-based papers. This approach offers businesses more value for their advertising dollar with a higher volume of potential customers.
“Forgottonia” refers to a group of sixteen counties in western Illinois. In the late 1960s and 70s, this area was neglected by the highway and train systems, causing residents to feel shorted by the state. They even threatened secession, and developed their own government demanding fair treatment. After gaining national media attention the state eventually allocated funding to develop infrastructure in the area. As the new residents of Forgottonia, we refuse to be forgotten. In a time when big cities overlook small-town life and the state uses our tax dollars for anything but the benefit of our area, we are determined to initiate growth.
All of Forgottonia Times stories are written by locals and we welcome contributions from any resident, be it an occasional article or a recurring column. Community engagement will ensure more accurate and diverse stories than we could provide alone.
We want to hear from you! Whether you have a story idea, feedback on our coverage, wish to submit an article, have photographs to publish, are interested in advertising space, or even want to purchase some Forgottonia Times merchandise, please reach out. We are open and welcome to all community input.
Email us at Contact@forgottoniatimes.com, visit our website at forgottoniatimes.com, or find us on Facebook. Thank you for your support, voice, and contribution to the community. We look forward to many more editions of Forgottonia Times!
Sincerely,
The Forgottonia Times Team