Amid giant stainless steel brewing vats and stacks of kegs, local business leaders and members of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce packed M.Special Brewing Co.’s back room Wednesday evening for the unveiling of the chamber’s 2016 Goleta Magazine.
This year’s issue focuses on “Living the Good Life” in Goleta, and features an inside look at Flir Systems, a thermal-imaging-technology company that got its start in the city and maintains a major facility in town.
Gracing the cover is Flir’s vice president of operations, Rich Antles, who has been with the company for 16 years.
“It’s talking about living the good life in the Goodland — in Goleta,” chamber president Kristen Miller told Noozhawk. “And so we wanted to feature both the business side and the lifestyle here that is so unique because you have this high-tech, industrial — I call it ‘laid-back brainiac’-type lifestyle — yet in a gorgeous seaside setting with a real outdoorsy feel.”
The launch party was also the chamber’s April networking get-together, a meet-up it hosts every month.
Squeezing into M.Special’s back room were many of the magazine’s advertisers and contributors, as well as Goleta City Councilmen Roger Aceves and Tony Vallejo and Santa Barbara City Councilman Jason Dominguez.
“Every year we choose a theme, but the overriding mission is always for it to be the premier information guide about Goleta — living here and the business community,” Miller said.
Goleta Magazine is overseen by a special chamber committee and is led by its vice president, Cortney Hebert, who serves as editor-in-chief. The chamber hires a professional designer for the magazine’s layout, and the content is produced by a variety of community professionals, including City of Goleta community relations manager Valerie Kushnerov, UC Santa Barbara acting director of news and media relations Andrea Estrada, and Noozhawk.
“In this age of digital information, this is, to our knowledge, still the only printed piece that you can hold onto and take home to your family that has information about what it’s like to live here, work here and play here,” Miller said.
Goleta Magazine will be available at its advertisers’ locations, many other businesses, prominent public places such as the Goleta Library and City Hall, and most hotels.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.