Welcome to Merrick Patch

After weeks of roaming the town attempting to describe what exactly Merrick Patch is, I am thrilled that the community can now explore for itself all that Patch has to offer. 

Patch certainly performs the functions of a daily newspaper, but in the end, we plan on being nothing less than the soul of Merrick online.   When you fire up your computer and want to know anything about Merrick, whether it be high school sports stories or how to contact the town clerk, Patch will be that source. It's ambitious thinking, for sure, but just from being around town over the last month and meeting with so many people, I am already convinced Patch is exactly what Merrick needs.

You may have heard of some our sister sites in New Jersey;  Summit, Millburn, Livingston, South Orange and Scotch Plains.  Like them, Merrick Patch will be offering services including a directory of local businesses, organizations and important places, a set of "local facts" ranging from town officials to information about school enrollment, to comprehensive event calendars and announcement pages, and constantly updated daily news about Merrick.

Here's a breakdown of what we offer:

The Directory and Local Facts

Our listings include rich information about local businesses, from hours of operation, to maps, to services, including pictures of the business. The directory has similar information about the town agencies, civic organizations, parks and schools. We strive to be the online information hub for Merrick and through our directory we hope to provide you with everything you want to know about the town. In the Local Facts section you will see valuable information from the backgrounds of important officials to assistance in navigating local government.

Events and Announcements

Our events calendar is a good way for you to find out everything that is happening in the borough. From club meetings to family friendly programs, we strive to have as many events as possible. While our events team does a great job, we can always use your help! You can upload events and announcements directly to Merrick Patch and we encourage you to do so. Our announcements page is a great way for you to share your important announcement with your neighbors. Did your child get an award at school or get engaged? Did you just get promoted? Do you want to thank a neighbor for helping out in a time of need? Post it on our announcements page and let all of Merrick know your news!

News

Our news pages are going to be an exciting part of our site. We will bring you updated news and features about Merrick as well as sports news everyday. Our contributors and I will be all over Merrick scouting out news, covering events and getting to know you. We are a total multimedia operation and will use words, photos and videos to tell the story of Merrick. You can see some of this up and live on our site now.

People and community organizations are the lifeblood of Merrick. We want you to help make our site even better. Upload your events and announcements, tell us about the community groups you're involved in and give us the news tips that you see around town. If you can contribute a column on a local topic, let me know. Most importantly we want to help the volunteer groups here in town. We want to publicize your news and help you recruit volunteers. Please contact me with your news and take a look at our site and learn how you can recruit volunteers from our site.

I come to Merrick Patch as a homegrown Long Islander.  I have degrees from the University of Richmond and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.  I spent several years covering community news in the suburbs of Richmond and my work has appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Queens Chronicle, The Korea Times, amNewYork and Newsday.com.

I firmly believe that hyperlocal community news is the lifeblood of journalism. Giving people the ability to be constantly connected to their community through information is a role I take seriously.  Merrick Patch has the distinction of being the first Patch launched on Long Island, but many more are on the way, including Bellmore Patch, which is set to go live in just a few weeks. I will be working closely with Bellmore Editor Jaime Sumersille to make sure our sites provide distinct coverage to our respective towns while also sharing content when it seems fit for two communities so tightly connected.

I welcome your input on all things Merrick.  You can reach me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. E-mail me at ryan@patch.com or call me at 516-984-9121. You can also follow us on Twitter here or become a fan of Merrick Patch on Facebook here.  I look forward to covering the town and to meeting each and every one of you!

Welcome to Merrick Patch!