Jonathan Williams

This is it. The issue we’ve been working toward all summer. As frequent readers will notice, Coast Weekend has a new look and logo.

Over the last six weeks I’ve worked with our editorial, design and advertising departments to continue to make Coast Weekend the most modern, fresh and indispensable resource for all things arts and entertainment in the Columbia-Pacific region.

Like moving into a new house, it takes time to get used to a new space. While many changes are noticeable, some furniture takes longer to unpack. Other items are discarded.

For example, the table of contents is no longer on page three and more stories are now teased on the cover. This also means the next few weeks are a period of refinement where we will continue to adjust and add new elements to Coast Weekend.

Coast Weekend’s new logo, “Our Coast Weekend,” is a big change. The previous logo had been around for more than 10 years. This logo more clearly includes Coast Weekend in the Our Coast family of publications, which includes Our Coast Magazine and Oregon Coast Today. All are accessible online at discoverourcoast.com. Our brand is now Our Coast Weekend but the publication will still be referred to as Coast Weekend.

Readers will also notice this issue is longer. Coast Weekend now publishes 24-page issues, up from 20 pages, every week.

We’ve moved the page numbers to the bottom of the page and removed the bar at the top, allowing for more space to run photos larger.

This issue also includes our first outdoors article on page 18. Look for more articles on how you can enjoy the bounty of endless outdoor activities our coast offers.

More editorial additions to look forward to are a monthly poetry column where readers submit poems related to a monthly theme that are published in Coast Weekend; a calendar grouped by genre (theater, comedy, dance, outdoors, workshops, etc.) and a Weekend Best Bets editor’s column; featured photos from readers’ weekends spent on our coast; contests and trivia as well as special issues focused on food, beer, the outdoors and seasons.

We are also matching our efforts in print on digital, too. This means more audio and video stories and added features to our website and social media.

Coast Weekend has been around for more than 30 years. It was called Panache when it first debuted. Change is good, and Coast Weekend will continue to be there for readers.

A lot of this is insider baseball. But this is your Coast Weekend. And you should know why changes are made. My goal remains to provide readers with useful and entertaining coverage of the arts scene along the North Coast.