Around Edmond: 14 Years have flown by! Heard on Hurd May Photo Gallery. City of Edmond Housing Assessment is in.

Hi everyone! Hoping all of you are having a great start to summer. First off, set your calendar for the next Heard on Hurd happening in Downtown Edmond from 6-10 pm June 17th!!! See the May event’s photo gallery below.

My spring was kickstarted on April 4th, by having EA’s Instagram locked, all its info changed within about 3 seconds, and within minutes, I received a phone call at 12:43 am on April 4th allegedly from Los Angeles per my caller ID, telling me I would need to pay this gentleman if I wanted EA back.

I immediately reported the incident, tried to recover my account with 2 factor authentication, and within 4 minutes it was too late. Instagram does not actually have “staff” to help, only a system that is being overridden by really awful people.

And, they have appeared to follow me to EA’s new Instagram account I set up that night, to which I have been reporting suspicious accounts right and left, still to no avail. Watch our stories for the time being until I can get some sort of help from Instagram. And thanks for your patience during this nightmare. I have heard of this happening and did everything I could do to secure my account, and after watching others go through the same thing recently, it is stunning when it happens to your company. Please follow our new Instagram account at the links to the right of this blog, and thanks to those of you who have refollowed and/or understand what happened is sadly common for your patience while this matter is getting sorted out with Instagram. Hoping that the people who did this will just leave my little community account alone.

For those of you who are new to Edmond, and this is the first time you have visited EdmondActive, welcome! I started this blog, website, magazine and social media accounts in 2009, with the hopes of bringing great information about what is happening around Edmond.

When I started, I began reporting on finds at big box stores and independent stores and was immediately attacked by a boutique owner, who is no longer in business, for doing so, then 4 months later, a business woman attacked me for having a paid ad for a nail salon on Rockwell, the owner of an Edmond Spa called me the day before Thanksgiving and cussed me out for having an “Asian outsider” on the back cover of my magazine. Good times I tell you. I explained that she had knowledge of my business, was offered the opportunity to advertise and chose not to and had no right to tell me who “should” be advertising, when in fact she would not and most will not pay for it, and she had nothing to say to that logic.   I’m not a big fan of another business telling me how to run my business, homophobia, bigotry or racism.

When politics started heating up, I noticed two boutique owners placing the magazine in front counter drawers, which I must say was disappointing. In 2021 I was told a group of MAGA folks here locally were throwing my magazine in garbage cans, causing me to discontinue printing my magazine in mid 2022, and bringing my product online. I am not a big fan of a small minority trying to silence a print publication, and although I hadn’t ever increased my ad rates, this was a terrible loss to me and the loss of personal funds I used to finish paying for print bills after receiving ad funds.

My goal is still the same as the day and year I started EdmondActive, no matter its form, whether here on this site, in print, or on social media. To provide information on local happenings, letting Life & Leisure handle the civics side of things, and provide the public with information coming from event based businesses, those who provide popular services and information about shopping around town.

Everyone has had their own opinion about doing what I have been doing over the last 14 years. Our town has seen its share of “affluent lifestyle publications” that are nothing but franchised advertorials.

But here’s the deal. Corporate big box stores provide the city with sales taxes, yet aren’t part of the community like some but not all independently owned locally based businesses. And. Not all residents of our community have any need for affluent based products and services.

I have received complaints over the years that I only advertise local boutiques whose products cost too much, etc. First off, I am not sure if any of you realize just how much rent for a local business actually costs, causing boutique owners to not be able to afford advertising, no matter how reasonable. I am confused lately as to what shoppers in Edmond actually want from businesses, because while you’ve been shopping for things at big box discount stores, some are now boycotting these stores, and still claiming local businesses cost too much. There are groups of folks who really need to make up their minds. Local businesses depend on your business to survive, that is solely the entire reason they exist, and, rightfully, to make a profit, as free enterprise intended. If you stick to online shopping or shopping at big box stores, the areas you will want to see these darling shops will become devoid of the charm that accompanies local independent boutiques.

Let me tell you, Edmond has come along way over the last 14 years, when I couldn’t even find a place with a patio to cover as “nightlife”.

I only tell all of you these things because I want you to know, everything I do with respect to EdmondActive is because I love doing it. And, because of bizarre political aspects of society now, I would still continue even if I wasn’t being paid to. It’s what I do for a living, but it’s what I love doing, as well. Not for influence, not for namesake (most all of you know me by EdmondActive not my name and that cracks me up), and let me tell you, it hasn’t been for money over the last 14 years either.

So, with that, I am going back to my old way of covering Edmond, and those of you who have followed EdmondActive over all of these years are entirely aware I do things differently than a newspaper or the City, finally now that gas prices have subsided, and some immediate costs have been lowered that will financially allow me to do so. It will be fun and informative, as old favorites are leaving and new boutiques and businesses are taking their places.

I was reminded clearly why I do what I do, this past May 20th at Heard on Hurd, when I introduced myself for the first time to Doug Hoke, photographer extraordinaire for the Oklahoman, and I also met another resident who knew my work and my husband’s photography from another industry my husband worked in for 30 years. Talking about the motocross and bmx communities really made me smile and remember how phenomenal it was to be a part of such a tight knit community.

It was really refreshing to meet someone who understood our past and current work as longstanding community-based work, not just opportunity to make money. I was reminded that despite all of the crappy people I may have encountered there are still fun and interesting people out there ready to have their stories told, and not as an advertorial paid feature.

HEARD ON HURD MAY 2023 PHOTO GALLERY *(I’m calling it that May’s Heard on Hurd saw the best weather of any event in Edmond held over the past 20 years!)

CITY OF EDMOND HOUSING ASSESSMENT IS DONE AND THE NUMBERS SHOW 18-34 young families are being forced out of living in Edmond – view the findings here 

Thanks for reading and be sure to stop by next Thursday to check in to see what’s happening around Edmond!

Sherri