NARROWSBURG, NY — The River Reporter is turning 40 years old this year, and we are going to be partying all year long to celebrate. You’re invited.

Our actual anniversary isn’t until December, but we’ll be leading up to that with a variety of special articles, retrospectives, activities and promotions.

A celebration of The River Reporter’s anniversary is not just a celebration of the newspaper, but of the community of which we are a part. The River Reporter archives are a chronicle of the life and times of the Upper Delaware River Valley for four decades. In them, there is a rich variety of material to inspire remembrance, to amuse, to inform, and perhaps most importantly to provide a broad historical perspective and context within which to understand who we are, how we got here and where we think we should be going. This isn’t just about us. It’s about you.

Here are a few things to look out for over the coming year:

• Classic “Best of 40” reprints of items from Dr. Punnybone, to columnists like Ed Wesely, Harold Novick and the long-running Thusnelda, to features that highlighted people, events and organizations that have had a lasting effect on our communities—and maybe even an item or two from our 1993 parody issue, The River Distorter—along with some of the controversy that ensued;

• Features that reprint articles, letters and photographs from the time that important events like the development of the River Management Plan occurred, along with a historical perspective on what has happened since;

• “Best of 40” articles in our special supplements reprising some of the most valuable and entertaining of our features, tips and how-tos;

• “XL-ent” special subscription offers;

• Special advertising deals, starting this month, that offer 40% off full- and half-page ads, and $40 off quarter-page ads, during the third week of any month;

• A special 40th anniversary special section in September, in which we also will invite other businesses and organizations who have landmark anniversaries this year to share their history and vision.

Keep your eyes open for articles with our “Best of 40” logo to follow our historical perspective throughout the year. Our first one is printed above: a retrospective on the newspaper’s first 25 years written by publisher Laurie Stuart in October of 2000.

If you have any special remembrances of this newspaper and how it has interacted with the community over the past 40 years that you would like to share, please send them to us at copyeditor@riverreporter.com.