When our newspaper staff started discussing “Roads, Roots and River: Celebrating Our Community” in October, our goal was to produce the preeminent, stand-alone feature magazine for and about the River Parishes.

After five months of interviews and sponsorship agreements with local advertisers, we are excited to publish the special-edition magazine, which will be included as part of the Feb. 28 newspaper bundle.

The 44-page, all-color, glossy magazine highlights the people and stories that make this region so noteworthy.

Although the special-edition magazine will be included with the Feb. 28 newspaper, we don’t anticipate many people completely going through the product in one sitting.

Therefore, it is being designed as a stand-alone product with a long shelf life.

L’OBSERVATEUR’s news department commissioned area journalists to cultivate the long-form stories readers will enjoy in the special edition.

The newspaper’s sales team worked for months securing business sponsorships for what is our largest and most in-depth product of the year.

Many special thanks goes to the 39 advertisers, who without their commitment, we could not produce this product.

We have been highlighting those advertisers in preview ads that have been running each edition since January.

To get local readers excited about the stories, we have also been including a River Parishes-based trivia question in each Wednesday L’OBSERVATEUR and Thursday River Parishes Extra. We ask readers submit their answers back to us by the following Monday at 5 p.m. to qualify for a prize from a uniquely River Region establishment.

The question asked this past Wednesday was:

“Which River Region parade, rolling for the 38th time, is collecting supplies for a local food bank?”

If you know the answer, please fill out the form in Wednesday’s newspaper and send it our way. Special congratulations go out to LaPlace’s Gloria Dupuy, who is our most recent trivia contest winner. The game will continue for two more rounds — Feb. 18 and Feb. 25 — as we count down the weeks until “Roads, Roots and River: Celebrating Our Community” hits area newsstands.

The best part of this project is it’s only just beginning. We plan to continue this once-a-year publication anually around the same time. So be sure to save this month’s copy, as it will become Volume 1 in a longtime series.

A snapshot of what readers are in line for is as follows:

• The families of St. John the Baptist Parish deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen, who were viciously killed while on duty during a shooting in August 2012, have never been forgotten. Many continue to fund raise in the names of Triche and Nielsen.

• St. John the Baptist Parish School Board Member Gerald Keller can sometimes be found on a golf cart near his Reserve home. That’s when the lifetime educator and retired school district superintendent isn’t working on his fourth book, all in a series documenting our community.

• Family and friends of Bertha Bell still work in the store she started — Bertha New Life Thrift Store — a venture began as a way to raise money to help women who find themselves in abusive relationships.

• “Junior,” otherwise known as Lowell Narcisse Jr., was thrust into the spotlight as the freshman quarterback of the 2013 St. James High School football team — a squad that had recently posted back-to-back winless seasons. Get the behind-the-scenes story of how a father, son and coach started a team that began a program’s resurgence.

Their stories and so many more are snapshots into who we are and what makes this region so special. We look forward to sharing those with you Feb. 28.

Stephen Hemelt is general manager and editor of L’OBSERVATEUR. He can be reached at 985-652-9545 or stephen.hemelt@lobservateur.com.