From the Publisher

This week, Wareham Week is saying a fond farewell to Editor Matthew Bernat. After nearly six years with the company, Matt is moving on to become associate editor at specialty magazine company outside of Boston.

Matt will be missed by us and, I suspect, by many in Wareham.

It was April of 2013 when Matt moved to the South Coast from his native Palmer to take the reins as editor of sister paper Sippican Week, covering Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester. Exactly three years later, he shifted east to the editor’s chair at Wareham Week.

In the almost three years since then, he has been the rock on our staff – writing about and directing several reporters’ coverage of a mountain of news.

Three years of summer festivals.  A month of weekly nor’easters.  A championship for the Gatemen. SWAT teams descending on Wareham High School in response to a bomb threat. The decision to build a new elementary school. A visit from Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall. Construction in West Wareham of All-American Assisted Living, luxury apartments and a large solar farm. And much more.

With Matt’s Feb. 11 departure, Meghan Neely will be stepping up into the editor’s roll as we search for a replacement to succeed Meg as Wareham Week reporter. A 2018 graduate of Champlain College in Vermont, Mansfield native Meg hit the ground running when she joined our staff in May – and hasn’t stopped running since.

Please join me in wishing Matt well in his new endeavors and helping Meg move smoothly into filling Matt’s big shoes.