Dec. 25: Merry Christmas, Happy New Year — and Thank You

I can't believe we've been live for only three months.

Since Sept. 24, our team of freelance writers and photographers and I have been working literally non-stop to fill with free content I'm sure is important and — more importantly — enjoying to you. So these past three months have felt like three years.

But look at what we've done in that short time. We launched an attractive website with a comprehensive, up-to-date and — sorry, I don't mean to sound so vain — attractive business directory, something the North Fork has never really had centralized on the Internet before.

If you missed iconic local events like the in Mattituck, or Cutchogue's , we took you there through photos and video. And in an area that attracts (sorry, we're so vain again) celebrities, we also caught the likes of at a unique performance in Greenport, the cast and crew of as they filmed an episode on Love Lane in Mattituck, and renowned wine writer at a fun lecture at in Cutchogue.

But the North Fork, with its unbeatable natural light, beauty, beaches, wineries, and farmstands is so much more than a celebrity and tourist attraction. The people who live here are just as fascinating and hardworking as any guru passing through.

North Fork Patch was right there with at the height of the season in mid-November. We followed the work that our employees go through, the heavy emotional lifting ouractors endure and the extraordinary effort our show both on and off the playing field.

By now, you have all opened your presents, had your afternoon Christmas meals and are most likely ready to shovel yourselves and your cars out for hours tomorrow and Monday. So between all this holiday activity, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading North Fork Patch. The written word is not dead, you know — it's evolving to and with the multimedia magic of the Internet. And we're right there with it.

Thanks to: our regional editor Henry Powderly and senior regional editor David Reich-Hale for their support and constant pushing to make this thing the best it can be; excellent wine country coverage from our team — Alan Wax, Henry Powderly, Lenn Thompson, and Eileen Duffy; outstanding sports and school stories from Christine Angell and Maria Peroni; my so-easy-to-work-with partner-in-crime just to the west, Riverhead Patch Editor Joe Pinciaro; freelancer Michael Spellman, who has transformed from fishing expert to jack-of-all-trades writer; contributors Andrea Aurichio and Damon Rallis for cranking out the great features every week; awesome friends and beyond excellent photographers Randee Daddona and Andrea Pickerell; calendar editor Sandy Martocchia, who somehow finds the time to also contribute really good newsy articles; and last but not least, all the listers who hit the endless grindstone with me this past summer to build up our phenomenal business directory.

Stay tuned during the coming days for articles listing the best-of 2010 in all aspects of life on the North Fork. I'll see you all in 2011 and hope you have a great new year!

— Erin Schultz