Boy, time flies, doesn’t it?
On December 1, 2015, The Coastal first launched to an audience of just over one-hundred readers.
Today, exactly five years – and hundreds of thousands of readers – later, we celebrate five years of covering the past, present, and future of the greater Jacksonville area.
In five years, The Coastal’s modest team has managed to accomplish a lot. We expanded to print a quarterly paper edition, which ran from winter 2017 to winter 2020 before being sidelined by COVID-19. We’ve helped sponsor several community events, from 5K runs to mental health initiatives and beyond. We’ve started dialogues about a wide range of topics including commuter rail and pedestrian malls. Our weekly development update series, Building Up Jax, has gained a niche audience, and our popular Jax Evolved series has helped to cultivate a growing local interest in adaptive reuse projects. And strangely enough, we’ve even inspired a copycat or two. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?)
We’ve prided ourselves on being a small, independent team since day one. Though we’ve had local media outlets reach out to us about content partnerships, we’ve remained dedicated to providing a voice for the average Jacksonville resident rather than chasing “big media” money. No one on our team is rich or “well-connected;” none of us are children of former mayors or anything like that. We’re just hard-working writers, editors, and digital marketers that love Jacksonville and want to help it become the best possible version of itself.
Moving forward, we’ll look to continue building on what we’ve already done while incorporating new elements like bolder commentary, long-form articles, and the return of The Coastal Store.
Most importantly, we’re so thankful for each and every one of our readers that has followed us and helped us grow through the past five years. We couldn’t have made it to five years without you.
Thank you, and we look forward to many more years with you and the Jacksonville community!
