We’re celebrating a milestone at 365Barrington.com.  Today officially marks the third birthday of this website, which started as sort of an April Fool’s Day experiment in 2010. Three years later, we are sincerely grateful that you have stuck around for the stories we’ve shared.

Since our very first post on April Fools Day, 2010, we’ve published about 800 stories about things to do, places to go and people to meet in Barrington, Illinois.  We’ve had about 210,000 visits to 365Barrington.com, our site’s pages have been viewed about 680,000 times and we’ve worked very hard to build a strong following via our social networks & email campaign, The 365 Barrington Buzz.

Last summer, we debuted the Barrington Online Marketplace and developed other new platforms to promote local businesses, organizations and events and support this website in the process.  We have begun to introduce new voices at 365Barrington.com, including contributors like Kelly Donlea with Barrington EATS, Carlos Randolph with Dad Around Town , Beth Ciesla with Marketplace and Barrington 220 Chief Communications Officer, Dr. Jeff Arnett, who is behind our Smart Moves series highlighting great stuff happening in our schools.  We are so thankful for photographer, Julie Linnekin, who captures beautiful images of many of the people and places we write about and we’ll be introducing more new local contributors and regular features soon.

But the biggest reward of all is that, according to our latest statistics, over 13,000 visits are recorded at 365Barrington.com every month.  And I wanted to take a minute to thank you for being here, for reading and for sharing the things we write about our community.  Developing a website like this from scratch has not been easy and we know that earning trust takes time.  But I love this work, I am grateful for the opportunity and I apologize for those sneaky type-o’s that slip past me when I’m not looking 🙄 👿 😳.

I had no idea where this would lead when I wrote my first entry on that April Fools Day in 2010.  But I’m excited for what the future holds here at 365Barrington.com with sincere appreciation for your time, your interest and for the many new people I’ve met since this first post published three years ago today…

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1. Start a Blog for April Fools

For me, April First typically comes and goes each year without the tiniest prank. Somehow planning April Fools Day tricks never makes my to-do list.

It just seems like one of those silly holidays when the calendar begs for us to stop, smell the roses and take life a little less seriously. A little like Groundhog and Sweetest Days, I suppose. And who really has time for those?

But this April First, I’m trying something new. I’ve decided to challenge myself to find 365 things to do in and around Barrington, Illinois and share them right here at 365Barrington.com. That’s a thing a day, for those of you who are counting. Do you think I can pull it off?

I’m afraid you’ll have to keep checking back to find out. And if I’m getting in over my head, then thanks to April Fools Day, at least I can call YOU gullible.

So here we go. My first of 365 things to do in Barrington, Illinois. Start a blog, see where it takes you and who comes along for the ride. I’ll be back tomorrow. Unless the joke’s on you.

{2 comments … read them below}

1. Jim Luby Thursday, April 1 2010

   Good Luck!

2. Liz Luby Chepell  Tuesday, June 29 2010

   Thanks, dude. At least my brother’s with me!