The December issue of the Perry Living magazine will be the last produced by the Johnston-based Big Green Umbrella Media Inc., Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson told the Perry City Council Monday night.
The city’s monthly newsletter, long a central feature of the free lifestyle magazine, will now be inserted into Perry residents’ bills from the Perry Water Works, Peterson said.
The Big Green Umbrella was founded in 2005 and still publishes an alternative newsweekly and a number of lifestyle magazines and niche publications.
Stories in the Perry Living would often “focus on local people, places and events and how they relate to local residents,” according to the Big Green Umbrella website. Juli Probasco-Sowers, a longtime figure on the Perry and central Iowa media scene, wrote features for the monthly magazine for many years under the editorial direction of Darren Tromblay.
Neither Probasco-Sowers nor Big Green Umbrella Media Inc. Publisher Shane Goodman were available for comment on the sudden end of the Perry Living. The free magazine was known for content that was “heavy with photos, fact boxes and pull quotes for an easy and informative read,” according to the company’s website. Common topics included recipes, education, faith, health, fitness, dining and business.
The cover of each issue of the Perry Living declared itself the “most-read publication in Perry with more than 5,237 readers!” The claim is dubious insofar as ThePerryNews.com attracts an equal or greater number of readers every day. Yet we would not wish to vaunt over a fallen media comrade but shall long feel a sentimental nostalgia for the former Johnston-based free lifestyle magazine.
