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Editorial: Looking back on 35 years

They say you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.

This edition of the Times is a special one, as we take a look back at  our own footprints over the past three and a half decades.

In the process, we’ve gained a renewed sense of just how far we’ve come.

This edition marks 35 years (less a day) since the first copies of our paper landed on Langley doorsteps.

On Feb. 18, 1981, weekly distribution of the paper began each Wednesday to 15,000 households and businesses before expanding into Fort Langley.

From the outset, the Langley Times’ focus was hyper local, covering the issues that most closely affected Langley residents.

Through the process, we discovered that while attitudes may have changed in many respects, the issues that shape us as a community are often all too familiar.

We’ve had a lot of fun flipping through the yellowing pages of our first issues.

Several of the photos that accompanied early stories have been reprinted here in our commemorative section.

And the Langley Centennial Museum graciously allowed us to access their archives when we needed to fill in the blanks.

Of course, there were countless more stories worthy of revisiting than we had space to print, so for the remainder of the year, we will take a look back each week to see what was happening 35 years earlier.

For those of you who were living in Langley in 1981, we expect you’ll feel a small twinge of nostalgia as you flip through the pages.

For those who weren’t around in those days, whether you hadn’t yet been born or perhaps lived someplace else, we’re pleased to have this opportunity to help you get to know your hometown just a little better.