Beginning in June of 2019 our Publisher was approached by Lifestyle Publications the parent company of what is now known as City Lifestyle and citylifestyle.com. An opportunity to bring a powerful and unique business model to this community was presented and a journey began that has been full of surprises!
After more than 30 years of being part of this community, our publisher has been long aware of service clubs and organizations and wanted to lean in even more to reinforcing the abundant good going on throughout Mesa County.
The arts, education, recreation of all kinds, the rich history and legacy of excellence that are all part of the Grand Valley make this place truly special.
We have featured outstanding local cuisine, brought you educational adventures from Guadalupe Island Mexico to Tanzania, Kenya, Eastern Europe and the heights of Kilimanjaro's summit and showcased local service organizations in abundance along with local lifestyle stories that have been a tremendous pleasure to share with our neighbors. Included here are a few favorite cover images from the past five years. Tough to choose? For sure! Some were picked especially for the story that goes with them, people met and memories made along the way.
Feeling adventurous? How a bout a digital scavenger hunt? All these can be seen online too.
(If you haven't seen our favorites you're welcome and invited to find your own "faves" any time by visiting ANY past issue for free 24/7 at citylifestyle.com/grandjunction.
January - Health and Wellness: Winter back country camping, snowmobiling on the Grand Mesa and a feature on the 2020 Colorado Trail "fastest known time" (FKT) athlete. Both the Backcountry Camping trip and the FKT story left lasting impressions on the publisher and those stories remain favorites.
February - Love Local: From custom jewelry to amazing local sculpture and everything in between, we LOVE showcasing our amazing local talent. We've shown local painters "en plein aire" refining their craft at an art competition on the Monument; local sculptors and downtown legacy art that "hits different" when you've been here long enough to begin putting down some roots. We even have an art center dedicated to military veterans and their creative pursuits. And don't forget The Art Center at 7th and Orchard. A powerhouse in proactive community connection to the visual arts.
March - Home Design and Services: Home design and services covers such broad strokes in the canvas of our neighborhoods that the possibilities are nearly infinite. The House overlooking "lunch loops" (March 2021) is one of those "what a view" builds that almost takes the breath away even looking up at it from the ravine floor.
April - Spring/Environment/Finance: A lifetime of white shark conservation by a local guy, local legacies of JUCO and V for valor, medal of honor recipient WWII veteran (April 2021 and 2025)
May - Local Ladies: The service work and grants given by Junior Service League, local leaders and military veterans, even a professional racecar driver. We like to think of these as our Limitless Local Ladies! Much of the spectacular photography curated for these issues is provided by some of these talented gals.
June - Gents/Dads and Grads: From scholarship recipients and grantors to mentors, history makers and advocates for timeless values, our local "gents" rank among the best to be found anywhere; often excelling out of obscurity and sometimes through seemingly insurmountable challenges.
July - Explore/Summertime: Two stories really stand out for July. Last summer the cover story was all about the Colorado River being therapeutic and educational during decades of summer fun and learning. The other story, from July of 2022 was an adventure, a retreat and a flood of learning in a two day camping trip that left impressions to last a lifetime. Never been rafting the Colorado or seen some of western Colorado's ghost towns? You might be surprised at what you learn in the process - including what you learn about yourself.
August - Kids and Pets: Picking just one favorite cover or favorite story from the annual Kids and Pets issue was simply impossible. As a community you have said you love them all and as a publication team we agree. Horse Sense and Mesa County's Best Friend (Rachel) are some of the heart warming features but all of our August issues have had stories that stick with you.
September - Style and Fashion/Local Lifestyle and Culture: Style and Fashion are always a moving target in terms of clothing so we have kept our focus on local lifestyle in September. Two of the most enjoyable features have been focused on the learning of a lifetime that comes through travel. The Kenya and Tanzania educational travel stories and the pinnacle of that excursion; a group of local "intrepids" summiting Kilimanjaro was pretty special to bring to our community. Last year the Sept. 2024 issue also featured the brand-new GJHS in vivid pictorial outlay. The photographer, GJHS alumna Lily Caldwell!
October - Foodie: A baker's dozen, local burger blitz (might be about time for an update) -some of those burgers are no longer available. A favorite cover, featuring a dramatic flambe and features on some of the gourmet locations to try have also been palate pleasing, eye catching and appetizing. More to come...
November - Thankful: Local tablescapes for holiday entertaining, local coaches and mentors, leaders in community service, law enforcement, fire fighting, community health advocacy and crisis management have ben highlighted and taught us at GJ Lifestyle immeasurably about our own mission - seek out and help to keep going, not just the good but the best things in our community - this place, these people, the heritage and brilliant future here are among the the best to be found anywhere!
December - Holiday Giving and Celebration: Giving for us and for the City Lifestyle corporate team is not just a Holiday Season theme nor a once or twice a year event. Yes, we give abundantly financially and in service hours every December across over 200 publications from coast to coast and more. We have international service projects you may remember from December issues and that has grown five fold in the time we have been bringing GJ Lifestyle to Mesa County. We love the fun of the Holiday Season and have truly enjoyed bringing you, our friends, these Holiday issues each year.
Our publisher is a Desert Shield/Desert Storm era USMC veteran and often advocates for principles learned then - among them - "return and report". In the following feature we'll give a shout out to each of our community partners who fulfilled an agreement to support the positive, community centered content many of you, our friends, neighbors and loyal readers have come to love, while promoting their exceptional offerings.
The GJ Lifestyle team wants to express our gratitude to community partners, talented writers and photographers and to you - our readers - for grand adventures each issue. Hang on! It's going to continue to be thrilling. We've barely scratched the surface of all the GRAND this Mesa County community has to offer. We look forward to KEEPING THE GRAND things going for many more years to come.
We love to hear our friends and neighbors say they enjoy the local resources, shopping, food and "beautiful photography" inside the pages we bring you each month. Here are a few samples.
In the next article we'll give a shout out to our community partners who have support the community centered content that you, our friends, have come to love.
"We've barely scratched the surface of all the GRAND Mesa County has to offer. We look forward to KEEPING THE GRAND THINGS GOING, for many years to come."