Happy Holidays & Why I Publish MyRye.com

This year marked our family’s twentieth year in Rye. We moved to Rye in 2001 from the upper west side of Manhattan, attracted by Rye’s schools, open spaces, recreation, coastal location and charm.

Five years later, I started MyRye.com. Its full origin story is for another post, but it started with a handful of our neighbors coming together to approach the city on a safety issue. I started writing intermittently on the safety issue, and then other things. When my work in the technology industry took me across the United States and around the world, I found myself up at all hours in a hotel room writing about Rye. Even though I was in Los Angles, London or Singapore, I found the creation of MyRye.com as a way to be close to and to celebrate our community.

The pandemic has been yet another chapter. I’ve put more energy than ever before into making the site a place where we can rally as a community. While local media has disappeared from many towns and cities with the economics and power shifting to Facebook and other giants, we have added to our coverage and frequency. We now reach more people in Rye, more often, than any other media.

We cannot do this without the support of our advertisers – many of them joined us for the first time in 2021. If you see a business you recognize on the site, tell them thanks for supporting local. If you see a business that routinely advertises elsewhere, ask them to consider investing in MyRye.com.

We are also grateful for the people and organizations that contribute to MyRye.com. We started the series Papers from Our Past with Alison Cupp Relyea at the Rye Historical Society this year, documenting aspects of our history. For years, Steve “the OG” Feeney has penned our Garnet football previews. Our varsity sports coverage happens with the support and cooperation of Athletic Director Susan Reid Dullea and every last coach. Our interns this year – Matt Capaldi, Marin Martin, Will McCullough and Lauren Mehrara – made real, lasting contributions. The list goes on and on.

Finally the most import person – you – our reader. Thank you. We love hearing from you – what you like, what you don’t like, what you think we are missing. MyRye.com holds nearly 9,000 reader comments – please keep them coming.

It has been a hard year (or two). We hope you are able to take deep breath during the holiday season and find peace in family, friends and in the community we each call home.

Remember, our site does not happen with out each of you. MyRye.com will be on a light schedule until Monday, January 3rd. Keep in touch.

See you in the neighborhood,

-Jay Sears, owner & publisher