The Mercury will open its doors for Saturday event

(In case you missed the front page story in Wednesday's paper...)

POTTSTOWN — When Pottstown opens its doors for the Open Doors event Saturday, The Mercury will be among those inviting people to come on in.


Inside Wednesday's print edition of the paper, you will find a special section that includes a complete schedule of the events during Saturday's Open Doors event, along with a map of downtown Pottstown that shows where events will occur and where you can catch the free shuttle bus.

You will also find stories highlighting new events and popular repeats from last year — like the free food at the high school.

But in addition to bringing the news of this singular community event to the community, The Mercury also wants to bring the community into The Mercury to see what's new there.

Primarily, we want you to know about how The Mercury is embracing the digital future of news, and how you can participate and benefit from those changes.

The auxiliary North Hanover Street entrance that opens directly into our Community Media Lab will be open on Saturday coinciding with the schedule for the downtown portion of Open Doors.

There, Online Editor Eileen Faust will be manning the desk to answer questions about starting or improving a blog hosted at the Town Square blog site link on The Mercury's website www.pottsmerc.com; how to access The Mercury through our Facebook and Facebook fan pages; and providing more information about our Twitter feeds.

Additionally, Mercury reporters Brandie Kessler and Evan Brandt will be live blogging throughout the day's events on the new Open Doors blog established on our website Sunday to promote the event. (That's what you're reading right now!)

Both reporters will also provide updates throughout the day about events on Facebook and Twitter.

"While we value our print readers and continue to produce a top quality newspaper every day, we also recognize that the world of community journalism is changing," said Mercury Editor Nancy March.

"Much of that change involves the web and new platforms for delivering and receiving information. These methods will have us relying more than ever on our readers to let us know about news events and things they think are important," March said.

"Open Doors is the perfect time for us to open our Community Media Lab to explain and demonstrate the many different ways that The Mercury will continue to be the primary provider of local news in the greater Pottstown area," said March.

"And we invite the community to stop in and see the many ways we've changed, and how the one thing that has not changed is our longstanding commitment to this community," she said.

The Community Media Lab will be open during the day's downtown events, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
When the action moves to Pottstown High School, The Mercury will have a table from which their reporting of the days events will continue.

Stop by and say hello.