Happy First Birthday Clinton Patch!

It has been one year since the Clinton Patch launched!

As its editor, I'd like to say "Happy First Birthday" to the site and give a little birthday speech:

First, thanks to all the Clintonites and those who live outside town (former residents, students away at college, even two European residents!) who have and use it every day to get their local news. And a big thanks to the many people who have downloaded our app to their iPhones and smart phones. Thank you.

Second, a thanks goes out to many town officials who have supported the Clinton Patch including who directed residents to the website for up-to-date information during Tropical Storm Irene, to for mentioning the site on many occasions, and to for using the site and especially our Facebook page to send out information during blizzards and snow storms to the residents. 

The list is too long to mention, but I sincerely thank the folks at , all four , the and departments, the , , , , , and so many more town organizations and businesses for embracing Patch, posting events and announcements and granting us interviews.

Speaking of interviews, there is no way the Clinton Patch could be what it is today without the enormous help of a group of awesome contributing columnists and freelance writers. A very special thanks goes to , , , , , and . Many others have written stories and contributed photos along the way and I thank them, too.

It's been a big year for the Clinton Patch!

We covered a (OK, a tropical storm), , a , , , , and many other stories that generated plenty of conversations.

In photos and videos we've covered the , the , , the , the and the among many other events.

We've written about and events.

We've made 587 "friends" on our Facebook page and sent 930 Tweets.

And we've covered 1,000 meetings (OK, maybe 150).

Here are some statistics for you:

We've published 2,846 articles, 1,343 events, 173 announcements, and 130 blog posts. We've profiled 62 Clinton businesses in our special "" articles and 663 businesses are listed in our directory.

There's a lot more to do, say, and talk about on the Clinton Patch! Happy Birthday Patch.