Edmond Life and Leisure - July 24, 2025

25th anniversary marked with our new beer

"All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance."

Will Rogers

A special thank you to Edmond’s own Ogle brothers, Kent, Kevin and Kelly. They were on our first cover, and they graciously agreed to pose for this 25th anniversary edition. These guys are big dogs, but they took the time to help their hometown newspaper 25 years ago and they were willing to help now. They are great Edmond citizens and terrific individuals.

Welcome to the 25th anniversary of Edmond’s only newspaper. We have survived them all. While we stand ready to beat back any competitors, it is nice to not be under vicious attack as we were in the early years. Instead of responding in like, we chose to keep our shoulders to the wheel and just take care of our customers and readers. It worked.

In some ways 25 years seems like forever ago and in other ways it seems like just yesterday. How do you define or illustrate 25 years in business? Here is how we measure it:

Over 1300 issues published.

Gust and I have written the same number of columns

Over 40,000 pages of news and advertising printed and distributed

24,000 pages of just advertising

650 pages of advertising donated to charity above the news coverage

3,420 individual businesses that have purchased advertising over 25 years.

521 vendors

Payroll taxes, our part, are over half a million dollars paid to support social security

Edmond has had eight mayors including the first candidate we endorsed, Saundra Naifeh Edmond Public Schools has increased its students by 11,000

School buildings have increased by sixteen

Thank you to Frenzy Brewing Co. for creating our own beer for the 25th. It is a Kölsch beer that they created just for our anniversary and is called, as you might suspect, Life and Leisure, Cold off the Press. Our staff designed the label. It is a refreshing, top-fermented, pale ale originating from Cologne, Germany. I hope you like it, and you can purchase as a draft or in six packs at Frenzy. Our lawyer told me under no circumstances can I sell beer, anybody’s beer, even our own, out of our office so you will continue to be able to get it at Frenzy. It is really good beer. To stay in business for 25 years it takes team effort. We have help from so many people and I just must mention a few but please know it is only the tip of the iceberg of the folks that has made it possible to win the day.

First and foremost, he is going to hate this, our partner Chris Hoke and his wife Valarie. If it were not for the Hoke family, we could have never gotten started much less stayed in business. Chris was supportive and encouraging. Scott White in his office and before that his late sister Cherri have been an immense help. We thank them for their belief in Edmond having a locally owned and operated newspaper.

I thank my wife and love of my life since junior high Lisa. She packs me a lunch every day saving money and making sure I eat right and helps with delivery every Thursday. I need to thank my kids who provided free cleaning services for the office each week. Yes, it was slave labor, and they learned enough about the business to know they did not want to follow in dad’s footsteps.

Art Hyde who literally developed the name and helped get us open with a market study.

Thanks to our staff of Steve, Alexx and Deanne. Deanne is our short timer at only 7 years. Alexx has been with us 16 years and Steve, the old guy, has been with us from the start. Steve’s wife Glenda helps as well.

Our legal council, Todd McKinnis All our freelancers including Melinda Infante, Carol Smaglinski, George Gust and Elaine Warner.

Mentors who continue to give us great advice, General Dick Hefton, Ed Livermore and the late Leland Gourley who was truly my second dad. He and Vicki taught me more about community journalism than possible.

So many advertisers to thank and at the top of the list is Citizens Bank of Edmond. CEO and chairperson Jill Castilla continues to support us and that a strong newspaper is needed in the community. Integris Health Edmond, City of Edmond, Visit Edmond, Edmond Economic Development Authority, Riverwind Casino, Oklahoma County, businesses like Matthews Funeral Home, Ackerman McQueen and traction marketing which are big dog advertising agencies that I

have had a friendship with for 45 years continue to support us and local journalism, the Downtown Merchants, UCO, Quail Creek bank, Prime Bank OU Heath when Leslie Buford was with them and she is at Integris now, Eskridge Honda, Pete and Brad Reeser, AT&T, Best of Books, Cox, Thrifty Pharmacy and so many more.

Here is part of what was in my first column of our first issue. I believe we have stayed true to what I wrote back then.

“Hello neighbor. I want to personally welcome you to our publication for Edmond residents. You have received today the inaugural issue of Edmond Life & Leisure and we want to welcome you to our family of readers.

Edmond Life & Leisure is a weekly newspaper designed to carry news about Edmond's people, families and neighborhoods. We believe that this publication should be one that Edmond families, civic clubs, schools and organizations look for current information about upcoming events and activities.

Edmond Life & Leisure i s distributed free. Our circulation is targeted at up-scale neighborhoods and shoppers at Edmond's finer retail establishments. We distribute 12,000 copies per week.

Edmond Life & Leisure is locally owned and operated. We are truly Edmond's only local media voice in the form of independent, family ownership. Our operation is a small one as newspapers go. We may not have the might of a giant corporation, but we have a local heart and conscience toward uplifting Edmond to the best of our ability.

Through much discussion with my Edmond friends and the tremendous help of Art Hyde at The Schuster Group, we found a niche in our town that begged to be filled. It centers on an interest in quality of life. Local news that affects your quality of life is what you can expect in Edmond Life & Leisure.

Arts and Entertainment obviously fall into this category but so do business, education, government, politics, history and so much more. Our front pages will not have stories about crime or traffic accidents. Those subjects are already covered so well by the daily newspapers in our market that there is no need to shove them in front of you again.

People in our town will also be a major focus for Edmond Life & Leisure . We have so many Edmond residents that have such an impact in Edmond, the state and even the world. These are stories that need to be told.

I am so pleased with the response from so many in the community to Edmond Life & Leisure, especially our advertisers. The willingness to participate in our newspaper, absolutely sight unseen was overwhelming to me. I ask you to visit their place of business not just because of their support for our newspaper but because they offer excellent products and services.

Again, welcome to Edmond Life & Leisure. Please send us your comments, story ideas and suggestions.”

(Ray Hibbard, publisher of Edmond Life & Leisure, may be reached at ray@edmondpaper.com)