Dear Jamie Trowbridge,

In addition to having dinner with your mother as a child, my mother wrote you a scathing note and promptly canceled her lifelong subscription to Yankee Magazine when you changed the size of the publication. Her reasoning was, (which made perfect sense given her generation,)  a person’s reading taste and measure of culture were subtly displayed with the stack of magazines on the coffee table. Life magazine was largest and on the bottom of the pile. The latest issue of National Geographic as next, then Yankee with  Reader’s Digest on the top. Due to the diminishing size of the magazines, one could always read the names of the publications below.

Last week I had the privilege and honor to be part of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce 2016 Community Awards Gala. I am on the board of directors and the Gala committee, so the past few weeks have been a scramble to solicit donations for the Silent Auction and sponsors from our local business community. In addition to the grunt work there was a whole lot of fun in the actual ceremony. The Chamber’s executive director asked me to present the award for Non-Profit of the Year…the afternoon before the event. “How do you feel about public speaking?” We presented local people and businesses with awards for Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Business of the Year, Emerging Business Leader and the Pinnacle Award. Last year the little Oil & Vinegar store won the Business of the Year and I was thrilled to have been recognized by my peers.

It is small town celebrity, when compared to State, National or international politics. Our mostly volunteer but grassroots group is proof that honoring and thanking local heroes goes a long way in community energy.

The keynote speaker was Jamie Trowbridge, President & CEO of Yankee Publishing. Yankee’s most notable products are the Old Farmer’s Almanac, New Hampshire Magazine, and Yankee.

Jamie’s stories of growing a business in New Hampshire were well seasoned with humorous antidotes. The company was founded by his grandparents in 1935. My mother grew up playing with his mother and told tales of the “mansion where they could never eat in the formal dining room because the magazine was being laid out for press on the table.”

Does the size of a publication matter? Does the size of an organization have any bearing on its importance?