It's our birthday, but you get the presents

Happy birthday, Longboat Observer.

It’s been 40 years since Volume 1, Number 1 was published, and we’ve all been through a lot.

Seven presidents.

10 named storms.

Countless traffic jams.

One horrific September day that will always be deeply connected to Longboat Key.

A lot of smiling faces.

For the next year, we at the Observer Media Group plan to celebrate, and you’re invited to join us.

In October, we’re planning a 40th anniversary keepsake edition. Don’t be surprised if your phone rings this summer and one of us is on the line asking about something significant that took place since 1978.

But today, and for the following 51 weeks until this time next summer, we’re digging through the archives to help you recall what was in the news back then. Each week, we’re picking out a year and highlighting the newsworthy, cute or humorous from that point in time.

Without looking too hard through our bound editions, it’s pretty obvious what a lot of that will be, even going back to the days when Arvida was a household word:

• Traffic
• Turtles
• The state of our beaches
• Construction, development and its effects (like we said, “traffic.”)
• Local politics and government
• The weird and wacky.

Today’s look back is to the very first edition of the Longboat Observer, published by Ralph Hunter on Gulf Bay Road.

Among other treasures, that first edition holds stories about sea turtle nesting season, town consideration of Arvida’s Civic Commercial Center, which led to a Publix Supermarket and an Eckerd Drugs and a letter from the publisher, introducing the Observer to the world and stating: “Editorially, we will follow the dictates of William Penn, who wrote, ‘Let Truth be thy aim, not victory.’’

So off we go, forward into the past.

And as always, if you have a tip or suggestion on a favorite happening from years gone by, just let us know.

In this week in 1978:

News of the Day

In the Longboat Observer’s first-ever issue on Friday, July 28, 1978, Arvida’s Civic Commercial Complex project was front and center.

Commissioners earlier in the week approved moving forward with a 30,000 square foot Publix store, down from the originally sought 36,500 square feet.  In addition, approval was given for an adjacent 10,000-square foot Eckerd Drug Store in an eight-acre first phase of the complex.

Fun facts

“What we need is a large Publix and a small bridge.”

Though the Observer said the quote was half in jest, Town Commissioner Howard Ridyard seems to have hit a 21st century nail on its late-1970s head with his insight.

$2.99

A “Just Plain Cheese” pizza from Bill’s Place at the Holiday Inn (though technically, “under the Holidome.’’). You say you want pepperoni or sausage or green pepper? Well, dig a little deeper into those Jordache jeans and pull out 45 cents more for each topping.

Bank by Bike

Ellis Longboat Key Bank’s slogan that tried to attract business the two-wheeled way to its place of business at 500 Bay Isles Road.

“By the bow”

When asked by a reader where to anchor a boat, the Longboat Observer’s Ask The Skipper columnist was forthright in making a recommendation.