Founder, Barbara Floyd, Retires from Active Publishing It's Not Farewell, But Hello In A Different Way
by Barbara Floyd
Founder, The Country Register
Farewells need not be sad, and in this case, it isn’t really farewell, but hello in a different way. On February 4, the papers were signed selling my five publications to two of my long time employees—Barb Stillman and Lolly Konecky— which means I am no longer a Country Register publisher.
This may sound like an Allstate commercial, but I have left you in good hands! Barb has worked side by side with me for nine years and Lolly for six years in my home office in Phoenix. They have formed a partnership and will now publish The Country Registers in Arizona, Oregon, Washington (including S. Idaho) and Nebraska and also The Antique Register in Arizona. I will still be closely connected to these papers as well as every Country Register in 45 states and 4 Provinces as the licensor of each publication. I founded the very first Country Register in Arizona in the fall of 1988.
Next year marks 50 years since I moved to Arizona, teaching school in Prescott for two years before moving to Phoenix and raising four children in the Moon Valley area. It was at Lookout Mountain Elementary School 35 years ago that Nancy Williams twisted my arm to be Ways and Means Chairman of the PTO during the year she was President. We were Girl Scout leaders together way back then, also. As a fundraiser for PTO, I started the first arts and craft show to be held at a school in Phoenix. When that ended years later, I had the first art show held in a private home and yard. Now, even more years later, Nancy lives a couple of blocks from me, and for several years, we served together on our homeowners’ board. Better yet, Nancy has been an important part of the behind the scenes of The Country Register with her expertise in editing. She makes me into a much better writer than I really am, writes some of the articles and catches many things in the editing part of what actually ends up in print in these publications.
The Country Goose, a gift shop that my daughter Barbie and I opened back in the 1980s—always on 7th Street in several Phoenix locations—became Gooseberries Tea Room and Gift Shop, starting out at 7th Street and Coral Gables in 1988. Gooseberries was sold when Barbie left for Sweden and married there. Several years later, she and her husband, Ralph Skalleberg, settled in Cumming, GA. Barbie started The Country Register in Georgia and sold it when daughter Hannah was born. Now things have come full circle as Barbie and Ralph, Hannah, Adam and five year old Olivia come as often as possible to their home in Cave Creek until the day they can move here.
Beginning fifteen years ago, when he was 20 and until he was 25, my son Brook Floyd was my only full time employee. In order to keep his talent on board, he created the format for The Antique Register, which we launched fifteen years ago this spring. It was well received right from its first issue. It is fun to see ads that Brook designed long ago still being used in that ever-growing publication. After moving to Washington, for several years he published The Country Register of E. Washington/E. Oregon as well as The Entertainer in Kennewick. Now Brook operates a music recording studio, Rainmaker Studio, in Kennewick.
My other two daughters, Bobbi-Jo Floyd and Brenda Swenson, live in Eastern Washington in the same area where Brook and his family live. Because my Phoenix office also produced The Country Register for Washington they have done their share of delivering papers in that area. For five years, we owned The Country Register Café and Tea Room in Kennewick.
It has been delightful to be connected to the Great Northwest and to the Midwest by doing The Country Registers in Oregon, Washington and Nebraska. An extra bonus is having lots of relatives living in Eastern Washington including about 50 members of my family and my sister JoAnn Peterson’s family.
Do check out The Country Register website at www.countryregister.com, and if you go to the publisher’s page, you will be able to read many of our Country Registers online. This can be very helpful when you plan a trip out of state or just want to catch up on the news in another area.
Thanks for all your support. You have responded to The Country Register in both supportive advertising and readership and I see nothing but growth ahead for your businesses and for The Country Register. Our goal is to bring many more new customers to your shops and events while increasing distribution to new readers with each issue.
Barbara Floyd, Founder of The Country Register and The Antique Register of Arizona, resides in Phoenix. Someday soon she hopes to start a blog, exercise more, eat les, and find other creative outlets or just plain do nothing if she so desires! Spending more time with family and friends is high on her bucket list. She can be reached at barbara@countryregister.com and would love to hear from you and keep in touch.
