As we close the Chester County Press for another year, let's offer a toast to the people who helped fill our pages; to those who gave us the news that shaped our views.

Let's end with a cheer to those new and old, to those refreshing and bold, whose stories we told from summer's heat to winter's cold.

On the eve of our most recent election came a shift in our selection; beside levers and dots read the names of each candidate; whose names we chose, after campaigns and debate, to decide the future of our county and state.

So let's offer a hearty 'Good luck' to Sappey in Harrisburg and let's see Houlahan to D.C. Your voices rang clear and your messages were heard – that our differences are our strengths, and that our divisions can be cured, word by word.

While parting is such sorrow to fine fellow Costello, is it too early to say, 'So long, Eric Roe?' We hope to see them both again, in the halls of influence; it's only a wish, we know, but their experience tells us that it makes such great sense.

And to our townships and municipalities, who rejoice in kinships and overcome maladies, we praise you for your endurance, your patience, and your principalities. So here's to Stevens in Kennett, Mason in Penn, Lombardi in Oxford and Myers in the Borough; may your decisions be wise, and may they also be thorough.

We doff our newsboy caps to New Garden, Franklin, and London Grove, too; may you turn the pages of your stewardship from one year to the new, and may your guidance be confident and true.

To the Oxford garage, it's not a mirage; may it welcome guests to this turnaround town, from its third floor on down.

To the Regional Police, will wonders ever cease? What once was Simpson's Folly is now a dream in the form of a trolley, that will take his team to a place of their own.

To Avon Grove, here's to your new home that will soon be; to the Kennett Run and the Mushroom Cap 13.1, may your roads be steady, and may your steps be always measured in fun.

Here's to the re-opening of The Creamery and your handsome new dome; we wish you happiness and friends in your new home.

To those who help the wheels of our towns' calendars full, we thank you for your presence, your kindness and your care. Here's to Tri-M and Genesis, Chatham Financial and Two Stones, Victory and Exelon, Bove Jewelers and Herr's, and dozens of other companies far too many to name; the impact you have on others will forever be held in the highest of acclaim.

With the last of our stories all tucked in for this final year's issues, we eschew the tissues and review our omissions, for in our 52 editions, we can't include every commission, exposition, exhibition, transition, coalition and inquisition, in the brevity of a season's end submission.

But for those named here and those not; for newsmakers and caretakers and homemakers and lawmakers, we at the Chester County Press are honored to bring you the news of your town, from Chadds Ford to West Chester to the Marlboroughs connected; from Unionville and Kennett to Avondale we collected.

From Toughkenamon to Landenberg, our reporters did cover; in West Grove and Oxford, there was much to discover.

From meetings to greetings to everyone near, happy holidays from the Chester County Press, and we'll see you next year!