May ’13

Cathy Wyatt, co-owner of Carpe Diem coffee shop, was the subject of About’s first cover story five years ago. We sat down with her to catch up.

We are using our birthday as the perfect way to kick-off a new letters feature in the magazine. Some of our former advisory board members helped to get us started this issue.

Happy birthday to us! It’s not about us, though, really. It’s all about you, Stark County.

Downtown Canton, featured in our July 2010 issue, continues to surprise. Newer eateries as diverse as Basil,Thatsa Wrapp, Sheri’s at Shears and The Lion’s Den now have thriving lunch businesses.

Barbara Abbott’s Canton Food Tours, featured in our September 2012 issue, blends delicious local cuisine (and cocktails), fascinating local history and art with light-hearted camaraderie. The tours continue to gain in popularity. New themes, destinations and events are continually being added to the tour lineup.

So many choices, so little time. Twelve new dishes were crowned favorites this issue, including: Lobster from Bender’s Tavern, Loaded burgers from (the former) Brown Bag Burgers, turkey panini from Conestoga, beer-battered cod fish from Fishers Foods, Italian wedding soup from Contessa Italian Pizzaria, the lunch buffet from Sahara Grill, a sampler platter from TGD, cookies from (the former) Sheri’s Sweets, pork tenderloin arrostito from Gervasi Vineyards, cheesecake from Thatsa Wrapp, combination dinners from El Rincon, and shish kebabs from Desert Inn.

Remember Kimono? The community was abuzz about it for months prior to the exhibit. The Canton Museum of Art’s “Kimono as Art” exhibition was newly opened when About featured Kumi Day, who led Japanese tea ceremonies during its run. Showcasing elaborately embellished, oversized silk kimonos from Japan, “Kimono” was a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, funded by the Timken Foundation, that attracted more than 57,000 people in less than three months — and about 11,500 visitors its final week.

It was January 2008 when then-publisher Kevin Kampman decided we would produce a monthly, glossy magazine. From that moment, we had four months to get it off the ground. Our first issue was proudly released in late April 2008 — 68 pages packed with positive local stories and targeted advertising aimed to readers in Stark County “living their best life.” Since that time, we’ve grown considerably — but continue to maintain our focus of highlighting the best about our community through great stories, advertising and special sections.

Find creative ways to savor your memories with scrapbooking.

Running a successful restaurant takes hard work, high standards, grueling hours, bursts of creativity and a dedication to customer service. Not surprisingly, many close after fewer than two years in business, so it’s cause for celebration when a locally owned eatery thrives. Such is the case with many of the restaurants featured in the early months of About magazine.