From the sounds of heavy machinery building houses, to the frequent announcements of amenities coming to town, to the overflow of seasonal produce from backyard gardens, evidence of growth in Zachary is all around us.

Growing a garden is a lot like growing a city. It requires a combination of vision and goals, time and money, effort and hard work, and a whole lotta love. This issue, we’re addressing growth a few different ways: growing older, growing flowers, and growing Zachary. In these pages, you’ll learn about three developers with big visions, three flower farmers who can teach you to have a green thumb, too, and some well-known and celebrated senior figures in our community on growing older gracefully.

And while we’re on the topic of growth…Porch & Parish quietly celebrated our second birthday this June. We couldn’t have made it this far without the support of our Community Partners, talented crew, and you - our wonderful readers. Thank you all sincerely.

We’ve been honored to hear the stories and missions of more than 120 podcast guests, feature more than 100 individuals and businesses in our print articles, and help more than 75 local business owners reach the Zachary community. What started as a lighthearted, 20-page quarterly magazine thas evolved into a mission to bridge the information gap and help create a Zachary where everyone feels heard and engaged.

In 24 months, thanks to the overwhelming support of this community, we’ve doubled our page count, strengthened our digital and social media presence, and added a second weekly newsletter called “Three Quick Links” to inform more than 2,500 subscribers of important deadlines and events each week. We’ve aligned with the City of Zachary to promote our shared missions and help you get to know the administration on a deeper level, from candidate forums, to quarterly fireside chats with the Mayor, to covering the day-to-day stories in our city.

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And in collaboration with the Zachary Community School District, we’ll publish a special issue in August all about the #Z – from school start and end times, to a profile on the new superintendent, to programs and clubs at the high school you may not know about. That makes five issues per year, but our goal is to bring you three additional special issues in 2024, for a total of eight magazines.

We’ve got more plans in the hopper, but I’m out of space. Check out page 37 or click here for another announcement from P&P. In the meantime – thank you all again for your support. We love ya, Zachary! Keep livin’ the good life – it makes a great story.

- Jen & the crew