Hello From Your New Wakefield Patch Editor

Last month, Sara Jacobi announced that she would be moving on to a new position with Patch.com in Boston. She did a great job building this website up from its earliest days, and I know that the community will miss her - even if she'll still be doing great work for Patch just a short distance down the highway.

So as of today, Monday, August 6, I'm the local editor for Wakefield Patch. Some of you may also know me as the editor of Lynnfield Patch, which I've been doing since that website went online back in November, 2010. I will actually be editing both websites from now on, and no, the two websites are not merging. They remain completely separate online publications.

I've already been working hard to thoroughly familiarize myself with Wakefield and in the coming days I hope to meet as many town residents as possible and to become acquainted with as many of the town's community entities and businesses as I can. As I go along, I look forward to coming up with many informative, interesting and entertaining articles and other items for Wakefield Patch. I'll also of course work hard to provide reliable and prompt information when news breaks in town.

This website already enjoys a strong and loyal readership and there is little need for wholesale changes just because there's a new editor. Still, we'll try out a handful of feature items on the website over the next few weeks and see how they do.

Another thing - You are always welcome to email me your photos from Wakefield to share with the community. I'm a longtime enthusiast, and I especially want to hear from you local amateur (or even professional) photographers out there. If you happen to be attending an event (or organizing it) in Wakefield, also feel free to send me some photos and I'll be happy to run them on this website.

I want to emphasize that you are always welcome to send me ideas or tips for news stories and features in Wakefield. Just email me at william.laforme@patch.com and I'll get back to you quickly. And seriously - don't be afraid to send in a story idea. Over in Lynnfield in pursuit of a good story I've spent an afternoon lost in the woods in search of a big outdoor mural and hung out with ghost hunters at 2 a.m. in a 300 year old building - while also doing the usual day to day community news gathering. That's the sort of spirit I'll bring to Wakefield.

Overall, I have lived in this area for much of my life, I'm an experienced journalist and writer, I welcome your feedback and ideas, and I look forward to serving this community and working to bring its residents the news and information they need.