There’s a LOT missing from this issue of COMO Business Times and COMO Magazine.
Stay with me here, because that’s obviously not the best way to start this month’s ChatCBT editor’s letter. When we started planning the “Legacy” issue several months ago, the first list of story ideas quickly filled more lines than we knew there would be room for in the magazine. That list continued to grow as our advisory boards chimed in with their invaluable suggestions and insight.
This bumper crop of incredible ideas is a good problem to have, right? After all, chronicling Columbia’s rich, invigorating, yet challenging history could fill several years’ worth of monthly magazine editions.
We have a recap of the “Voices of Columbia,” and you’ll see familiar faces like Paul Pepper and Chris Gervino. When we crowdsourced for suggestions for the “Voices” story, some folks mentioned current news anchors and reporters. That got me thinking about a “Voices” story someone might write thirty or forty years from now. Will those still-new-on-the-scene anchors and reporters be in that legacy issue?
We also feature Columbia’s food legacy, so apologies in advance if the story only skims or skips any of the eateries that are skimmed or skipped only because we have limited space. The same goes for sports personalities, and the surging media presence of one Sophie Cunningham, Columbia’s homegrown basketball belle who is now the enforcer against those who dare take pot shots at WNBA all-everything Caitlin Clark. (For the record, I’ve been a WNBA follower since the league was started.) Sorry, Sophie, but you’re on the short list for future stories about Columbia’s most notable heroes.
What you WILL see are stories about Interstate 70 and the University of Missouri. Without either, Columbia wouldn’t be, well, Columbia. That’s also true for former city manager Ray Beck, the subject of a new biography-memoir — Fingerprints and Footprints: Ray Beck’s Columbia — penned by yours truly in cooperation with ol’ Beck, the farm boy from Miller County who helped orchestrate Columbia’s growth and gave stability to our city government from 1960 to 2006.
As you dig into our deep dive stories, don’t hesitate to make a mental (or literal) list of Columbia’s legends and legacies — then I’d love to see what you’ve got. It only seems reasonable that we create a new department for the magazine focused on our legends and legacies. Stay tuned.
Finally, it deserves more than a passing mention that legacies aren’t always happy and inspiring. In May, super scribe Rudi Keller wrote a feature on Columbia’s Sharp End, highlighting a legacy that deserved our better angels and not the devastating process known as “urban renewal.” May we today search for and commit to opportunities for restoration and to recognize destruction before it comes, and to be on the side of history that, one day, will let us look back on our past without avoiding direct eye contact with Father Time.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Another great issue! (May 2025, The Downtown Issues.) The COMO and CBT really do an outstanding job of telling the story of Columbia. Thank you for giving Sharp End its proper due. It’s an important history that needs to be remembered and promoted as the incubator moves forward.
And thank you so much for including the story of Missouri UMC’s family life center reopening and the link to the full story online. (COMO Magazine, As Seen Online, page 44, “Soggy Opportunity: Water damage brings new life to MUMUC.”) It looked fantastic. We’re honored to be associated with your publication this month.
— Fred Koenig, Editor, Missouri Conference
Hi there,
I just wanted to send a quick note to say how obsessed I am with your article, “Customer Service With a Purr” (comobusinesstimes.com, June 11). I stumbled across it and instantly felt like I was getting a little tour of the sweetest corners of CoMo.
The idea of a peacock welcoming customers or a shop cat supervising brewery pest control operations? That’s exactly the kind of small-town magic that makes Columbia feel like home. I’ve already bookmarked the story and plan to read it once a day like a good luck charm. It’s that heartwarming.
Thank you for spotlighting the furry and feathered coworkers that make our local businesses even more lovable. I’d love to see more stories like this! The ones that celebrate the everyday charm of our community.
Keep up the wonderful work!
— Sofi, A happy reader in CoMo
Just read “Connected By Design” the June 2025 COMO Magazine article about the Columbia trail system by Marcus Wilkins. Great work! I really enjoyed the deep dive on geography and history. It captured the current momentum in our community beautifully.
— Mike Burden, CEO, Local Motion
Hi Jodie,
I’m on a train, somewhere between Budapest and Prague, and I pulled out the June 2025 issue of COMO Magazine that I thankfully remembered to stuff in my bag when I left Como a few weeks ago. I was so touched by your story (“ChatCBT: I saved your life, we stole a pack of cigarettes,” page 5) and shared it with my seat mates … a man from Vienna and a man from Paris, struggling through translation of English/German/French. I bet you never thought your words would be shared rumbling through the countryside of Hungary … but here I am. Thank you for sharing such a heartwarming story from your childhood.
— Tina Thompson
