Another year, another Progress special section is printed.

As always, the special section tries to highlight the business in Mount Vernon and Lisbon who have had changes this year, celebrating an anniversary or opened their doors for the first time.

Some changes are pretty huge, like Uncommon Church and Living Hope Global Methodist Church joining together. Some are businesses moving to new locations, like Wren and Purl and White Tree Bakery.

Some are celebrating anniversaries this year – Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center five years and Silver Spider 25 years this November.

And some are new businesses or new owners, like Mount Vernon Family Medicine or Spot-On Nutrition.

All of these businesses are weathering unprecedented times at the moment for small businesses, what with the constant threat of tariffs to countries like Canada, Mexico or China that are constantly on again and off again, amidst other areas that impact small towns.

But as we’ve said in other editorials – They’re also businesses who support this community. Who provide to our wonderful downtown and what we have to offer. They’re the places we should shop at first, because they support all of this community, too.

This special section is a highlight of many of those businesses and their stories and what they offer to the communities.