Reflections on turning 20

When we started this humble publication nearly 20 years ago, the two advertising representatives we had at the time, Sunny Gates and Ed Drondoski, and I would often meet on Friday evenings at a house I was renting on South Indian River Drive in Fort Pierce, after I had moved back to the Treasure Coast from Alabama.

Ed, a friend since high school, would bring over a fancy bottle of vodka, and we’d go over our weekly sales success stories and setbacks. None of us had any advertising sales experience, and we were essentially selling a dream, since our first issue hadn’t even published yet. I had started a similar magazine in Alabama, and our only tools of persuasion were copies of that magazine. 

We had a tough hill to climb.

Yet, in our first year, we managed to enlist the region’s major cultural institutions and some of its biggest businesses as advertisers. They bought into our vision of providing a magazine that would reflect positively on St. Lucie, Martin, and Indian River counties by highlighting the region’s history, unique environmental features, charities, and outstanding personalities.

Some of the success came at a price — especially for Ed, who brought in some impressive clients. He landed a high-end Vero Beach jeweler and the Melbourne Porsche dealership as advertisers. The trouble was, the clients were also good at selling their wares to Ed. He ended up buying a Rolex watch from the jeweler and a Cayman from the Porsche dealer. Good thing for his bank account that he soon transitioned into the magazine’s chief photographer.

We received a wonderful reception when the first issue published in 2006. And despite weathering the 2008 financial crisis, a lingering economic recovery, and the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been able to expand, thanks to our loyal readers and advertisers.

Today, we publish Port St. Lucie Magazine, Fort Pierce Magazine, Treasure Coast Business Magazine, and Space Coast Living, as well as producing the annual playbill for the Sunrise Theatre and an annual tourism guide for St. Lucie County. We’ve also produced specialty publications celebrating the 100th anniversaries of Vero Beach, Sebastian and Martin County, along with other publications and websites. We even branched into book publishing, producing My Cheating Life by Howard Thurber and The Promethean by Anne E. Abood. This month, the University Press of Florida is releasing Cow Creek Chronicles, based on a five-part series that appeared in Indian River Magazine in 2022 and 2023.

We are proud of these accomplishments. In an era of media consolidation and franchising, we remain one of the few locally owned media outlets in our market. We’re also proud that many of the staff who started with us in the early years are still with us, including Sunny, Michelle Moore Burney, our design editor for 18 years, copy editor Patricia Durham, and writers Janie Gould and Susan Burgess.

Sadly, Ed passed away in 2017 from a heart attack. But his memory — and the philosophy he imparted to us — remain.

Every fall, around this time of year, Ed would call me and say: “Hey, old boy, can you believe we’re starting another year?” Ed, a licensed plane and helicopter pilot who could weather any storm, had a calming influence when trouble brewed. When I’d worry about competition or a new challenge to the market, his response was always the same: “Greg, we fly our own mission.”

With this, our 95th issue, we begin celebrating our magazine company’s 20th anniversary leading up to our October 2026 issue, which, coincidentally, will be our 100th issue.

Here’s to more years of flying our own mission.

 

 

 

 

Gregory Enns
Reach Gregory Enns or 772.940.9005.

See the original article in print publication

Sept. 28, 2025