From The Staff
First Come Isn’t Always First Served
By David Marin & The CruZin' Staff
We’ve had a few contacts lately, phone calls and e-mails from readers that wanted to know why a particular event hadn’t been featured in the magazine when another event, held after the event in question, was featured. Fair question, but, one that has several answers (or reasons).

First, we try to have coverage from throughout the northwest in every issue. A little something from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. So we play this juggling game, constantly trying to achieve balanced or at least proportionately balanced coverage. Problem is that events happen in flurries. We might have numerous events from Washington or Oregon, but only a couple from Idaho and maybe just one from Montana. It’s a numbers thing. The fact is that there are more people in Washington and Oregon so there are more shows. We cover between 15 and 20 shows per issue. If we have a half dozen from one area, a half dozen from another area, and just one or two from other areas, and those one or two shows happened after the others, we will move the one or two ahead in order to maintain coverage throughout the region. In other words, we try hard to present coverage throughout our region, the northwest.

We also are at the mercies of various contributors. Our regular contributors are gems. They go to shows, shoot photos, gather information, go home, put names with the photos, write the story and forward the event to us in a timely fashion. They’re true enthusiasts and they do what they do because they love the hobby. Be assured, there’s no other reason.

But, we don’t make assignments… our contributors go where they want, which is generally, where they’re invited and made to feel welcome and appreciated.

We also encourage others to contribute. Frequently we get invited to cover events and we certainly appreciate the invites. But, obviously, we can’t be everywhere (much as we’d like to be), but just because we can’t be there doesn’t mean a show can’t be featured in CruZin’ Magazine. We’ve always told any event that if they recruit a couple of volunteers, one to shoot photos and one to take notes, get the information to us, and we’ll be happy to share their event with our readers.

Meanwhile, this issue is packed with coverage that ranges from the Oregon Coast across the mountains to Bend, to Lewiston, Idaho, to Spokane and on and on… sorry, no Montana this time… they’re under 10-feet of snow.
That’s all for now.

Stay low in the turns and Keep CruZin’,

David Marin & the CruZin’ Staff