Since the first issue of Entertainment Fort Smith debuted five years ago, we have produced and published more than a million magazines.

And YOU, dear readers, have read nearly every single one of them.
We started out printing 20,000 magazines a month to distribute in more than 250 locations in four counties and two states. A few months ago, we bumped our circulation to 30,000 per month and still, most of our racks are empty in 10 days.

We think this means you really, really like us. So, this is a good time to thank our readers – who now number around 75,000 per month – and all of our advertisers, sales staff, writers, photographers, graphic artists, supportive friends and family members who have encouraged us through the "birth" of 55 issues of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine.

In celebration of surviving our first five years in print, we came up with one of our typically ambitious and difficult to execute ideas – a photo shoot with a bunch of the magazine’s long-time supporters.

Let’s do an Annie Leibowitz-style group shot to run as a two-page spread in this issue, Lynn suggested. Oh, I like those, I agreed. Staff photographer Glenn Gilley gave us a "well, here we go again" look when we told him what we had in mind, but then he just shrugged and said, "OK." He’s getting used to our off-the-wall assignments.

So, Lynn asked Frankie Hamilton to reserve the south rotunda of the Fort Smith Convention Center for us at 8 a.m. (!) on July 12, and I ordered coffee and sweet rolls for more than 50.

Sixty people showed up for the shoot – if you count the life-size cutout figure of deputy U.S. marshal Bass Reeves and the immovable Dog Bite Dance statue that lives in the rotunda. Some were a bit more bright-eyed than others. Katy Boulden and Polly Crews strongly disapprove of early morning appointments. So we felt pretty special when they both came.

To her credit, Katy only asked once (out loud, anyway) during the 30-minute shoot, "Are we done yet?"

The milling around and visiting was as entertaining as the photo. See the official picture here.

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Lynn worried and worried about some people going to the wrong Convention Center entrance and missing the whole event. But we think that only happened to her husband, Joe, and daughter Flannery. They found us just in the nick of time. Joe has been a contributing writer for the magazine. Flannery and her best friend Emma Holland (daughter of our art director Mary Jane and photography/Apple guru Jim) were the cover girls for our very first issue. They’re teen-agers now.

To our delight and amusement, some of our friends came carrying or wearing, props. Carolyn Joyce appeared in her full Miss Laura’s regalia. Jim Spears brought his judicial robe and Bass Reeves. Claude Legris donned the chef’s hat he wore for his cover photo on our November 2002 issue. Blues buddy Jim McCormick wore his Chef Eddy Blues Revue shirt.

Realtor Gray Johnson, appropriately, carried a SOLD sign.

Dinah McCord, also a Realtor and the first person to buy an ad in our first issue of the magazine, brought an unusual prop – a pair of sequin-covered designer tennis shoes. Dinah made them for her daughter Liza’s wedding so the bride could have fancy AND comfortable shoes. A photo of the shoes illustrated one of the wedding section stories in last month’s magazine.

Gerry McEvoy of Sutherlands gets the award for being the tallest person in the photo. Lynn says our lone male staff member, sales ace Steve Slagle, should win the Patrick Swayze look-alike award. And Mayor Ray Baker may have made one of his longest-ever personal appearances – he stayed for the entire photo session!

We’re sorry long time friends like Gloria Farley, our very first subscriber and a profile subject, and Agnes Stouffer, our wise, patient mentor, couldn’t be there. Gloria was battling health problems and Agnes was in California.

Thank goodness Fort Smith police officer Tim Randolph was able to join us. His whistle came in real handy for getting everyone’s attention. Mary Jane and Donna helped art direct the crowd for Glenn, who somehow got a great, in-focus group shot of his squirmy subjects. You can see the real thing here.

Our company motto is Have Fun – and our anniversary photo shoot turned out to be an impromptu birthday party with some of the most talented, entertaining people we know – who are willing to put up with us at 8 o’clock in the morning.

Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.

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