Main Street magazine to feature Millerton and more

By Whitney Josepheditor@millertonnews.comThere’s a new monthly magazine set to hit the stands next Thursday, March 14, named Main Street, and its focus will be on Millerton and its surrounding communities. The semi-glossy, 9-by-12-inch, 30-plus-page magazine is the brainchild of Thorunn Kristjansdottir, who is the principal, editor, publisher and designer, having founded the publication in January. Filled with photographs, in-depth stories and fun features, Main Street will be clever and attractive, but best of all it will be free.The magazine will focus on the area’s history, business community, residents and artists. Kristjansdottir, who moved to Ancramdale from Iceland as an 8-year-old, said the project is the perfect fit for a community like Millerton.“It’s beautiful now, and from when I first came here it’s night and day,” she said. “I moved back to Ancramdale a couple of years ago — I always loved it. This is just a beautiful area, and there’s so much history and so many businesses I thought why not try it? I hope to be accepted by the population, of course, and by the mix of locals and weekenders.”The magazine is right up Kristjansdottir’s alley. A graphic designer with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, she was recently a partner in a similar magazine, The Chatham Press, for nearly six years. Kristjansdottir also runs two magazines on Icelandic horses, one an annual publication and one issued twice yearly. She runs Main Street out of her graphic design business, Thorunn Designs LLC at 24 Main St. in Millerton, where she does design work for publications, print, websites, logos, identity design, branding, marketing, social media as well as photography work. Working on the magazine, Kristjansdottir said, allows her to pull all of her skills together and channel her creative energy.“It’s so much fun,” she said. “I have all of the freedom to do whatever comes out of my mind — it’s a complete creative outlet. We tell a good story through both words and good design. It’s the ability to take something, an idea, and execute it and have a beautiful end piece that people can enjoy.”Another benefit is that by focusing on the local community, and more specifically on local businesses, Main Street can perhaps stimulate economic growth.“I always feel good that I’m doing the right thing with the publication, that people I’m doing a story on may get business from it,” she said, adding it’s essential the magazine attract advertisers to support it, as it’s free to readers and makes no profit from sales.As far as printing, the initial run will be for 3,000 copies; if the demand increases so will that number. The magazine will be distributed within a 20- to 30-mile radius around Millerton, stretching from southern Columbia County to Millbrook, into northwestern Connecticut and southwestern Massachusetts. Kristjansdottir and her sister-in-law, Ashley Fournier, who is the director of advertising for the magazine, will personally be delivering Main Street to its vendors, something its founder said is important to her.“We want to go into all the establishments and meet the owners and get their permission to leave the magazines with them,” Kristjansdottir said, adding that way she’ll have a “feeling” of how well the paper does. Also important to Kristjansdottir is that editorial content remain high. The ratio of editorial content to advertising, she said, will be 60-40, so readers “won’t be flipping through advertisements to get to the content.”To get a glimpse of some of that content before March 14, go to www.mainstreetmag.com, otherwise, stop by local gas stations, book stores, cafes and pharmacies to see if they carry Main Street. Kristjansdottir said her mission remains simple: “I’ll always try to tell a good and positive story, because there’s so much going on. I want to make people feel good, there are so many good stories out there.”