This month, the Hyattsville Wire celebrates its fifth anniversary.

In May of 2012, we started this website because we felt communities along Route 1 weren’t being covered well, especially online, where coverage tended to focus on politics and crime. We wanted to change that.

Our mission in starting the Hyattsville Wire was to highlight the arts, architecture, history and development of communities like Hyattsville, University Park, Riverdale Park and College Park, as well as Mount Rainier and Brentwood.

And things have definitely changed over the years. One of our early pieces was a call for a local coffee shop that pretty much described what Vigilante Coffee would become. Another was an argument for Hyattsville to join Capital Bikeshare, which will happen next year.

Along the way, we’ve interviewed everyone from crime author George Pelecanos to Jim Henson biographer Brian Jay Jones, to noted poet Kay Lindsey and duct tape artist Rachel Aughenbaugh, to Busboys & Poets founder Andy Shallal.

We’ve told you that the Firehouse Lofts were being developed, Art Works Now was moving to Hyattsville and BonChon was coming to University Town Center, among other things. We’ve explained mysterious wheatpaste art, tipped you off about secret menu items and even mapped out Sears homes in Hyattsville’s Historic District.

As we hoped, we’ve also spurred better coverage about the area, with our posts leading to stories in D.C. area news outlets, inspiring other websites to crop up and keeping existing news sites on their toes. We’ve added more than 3,000 fans on social media and picked up 10,000 page views last month alone.

And just recently, we’ve added new features including an events calendar that you can post your own events for free, more regular news coverage and a redesigned website, with some behind-the-scenes plugins to help the site run smoother. We also redesigned our mobile version to be more user-friendly, allowing you to easily read and share our news while you’re on the go.

If you’ve enjoyed the Hyattsville Wire, consider becoming one of our advertisers, or just show your appreciation with a small donation to help defray the costs of running this site, including web design and hosting and the general upkeep of the site at our GoFundMe page.

Thank you for reading and sharing our stories. Keep sending us your story ideas!