PHEW.

The sigh of relief was audible last Tuesday as our newsroom clicked the send button to ship three months’ worth of blood, sweat and tears off to be printed.

OK, so barring any paper cuts, that may be overstating the situation a tad, but the sweat and tears are highly likely.

Since early November, our sales team has worked tirelessly to get in front of business owners all over Michiana to present the awesome advertising opportunity that Horizons has become throughout the last 36 years. They knocked on dozens of doors, made countless phone calls and most importantly, met with hundreds of the people who make our communities thrive.

Meanwhile, our news staff spent their “spare time” connecting with people to listen to the awesome stories they have to tell, take their pictures and write the results for all of you to read.

Monday morning, that sigh of relief turned into squeals of excitement as we received the finished copies of this year’s Horizons edition.

This year, our entire staff approached our biggest publication of the year with a brand new theme: Faces of Michiana.

Simply put, we fit as many people as we possibly could into a 108-page magazine.

Have you ever seen a person and wondered, “what is their story?”

Our news team took that same approach with many Michiana locals, like Bobby Sandifer, better known as “The Bubble Man” in downtown Niles. We also talked to a lot of people most Michiana residents already know, like the retiring Cass County judge and sheriff, to tell the parts of their stories you may not already be privy to.

In one of my personal favorite spreads, we took a literal approach to “faces,” and talked to a handful of folks who transform their persona to become a variety of characters, from a Civil War re-enactor to a professional Disney princess.

Outstanding students from each of our local school districts are featured once again in the Shining Stars section, and people who give their time and energy to others without recognition are celebrated in our annual Unsung Heroes feature.

Although we could not feature every person in Michiana who makes the region special, we tried to reach as many demographics as possible. We featured a diverse group of people and hope the stories will entertain just as diverse a group of readers.

Basically, we worked hard to make sure this issue is the best Horizons Leader has ever produced, but that isn’t for us to decide.

We hope our collective squeals are matched as you flip through the pages.

Ambrosia Neldon is the general manager at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com.