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Times/Review Newsgroup unveils Northforker.com

northforkerlogoTimes/Review Newsgroup unveiled today its northforker brand, focusing entirely on tourism, lifestyle and leisure content from the North Fork.

Matt Kapelas
Matt Kapelas

Times/Review Newsgroup, parent company of The Shelter Island Reporter, unveiled today, Thursday, its “northforker” brand, focusing entirely on tourism, lifestyle and leisure content from the North Fork and Shelter Island.

Northforker.com will be updated multiple times each day with information on the region’s wineries, farm products, hotels and restaurants, real estate, arts and music scenes, as well as outdoor and educational activities for children and adults. Northforker.com will cater to all people — locals, second homeowners, vacationers and day trippers — who make the Island and North Fork special places.

The newsgroup’s popular magazine supplements are also in the process of being incorporated under the northforker brand.

Leading these efforts is Matt Kapelas, former longtime managing editor of Long Island Pulse magazine, who was hired earlier this month. He started at Pulse after its fourth issue in 2005 and helped build the Patchogue-based publication into what is today one of the larger regional magazines in the U.S., with 100,000 monthly copies distributed across Suffolk and Nassau counties.

“As a lifelong resident of Suffolk County, I’ve always looked at Shelter Island and the North Fork as the last vestige of true Long Island. Almost another world,” said Mr. Kapelas, who lives in Ridge. “The unspoiled nature, the agriculture and the people all contribute to a unique vibe.

“The potential of Northforker.com and Northforker magazines to enhance the lives of the area’s residents and visitors alike is something I’m grateful to be a part of,” he continued. “I’m really looking forward to working with Times/Review’s dedicated and talented team to create a product that is fun and, above all else, will make us as proud as the readers it serves.”

“We are incredibly excited about this launch,” added Times/Review Newsgroup publisher Andrew Olsen. “We have published tourism-based content for decades in print and we are excited to package this content in a compelling way on the web with this new site. Editor Matt Kapelas is a real pro who is fully equipped with the knowledge and experience to execute the company’s vision for the website and the brand.”

Sonja Reinholt Derr, the company’s sales and marketing director, said northforker.com will provide the inside scoop on everything there is to do on the North Fork and the Island, with the “when” and the “how” all readily available at readers’ fingertips.

“The North Fork, from Riverhead to Orient and Shelter Island, is extremely rich in food, wine, the outdoors and, of course, people,” she said. “Our magazines bring this to life in print and northforker.com will bring this to life digitally.”

Kael Goodman, CEO of BlankSlate, a tech company out of Brooklyn, developed the site along with Times/Review Newsgroup staffers.

“Our team really sees the potential in the Northforker website as people local to the community as well as tourists need a place to learn about all the great things happening in this area,” Mr. Goodman said. “The area is incredibly unique and Times/Review is uniquely positioned to deliver a site like this.”

The company’s three newspaper editors, web editor, executive editor Grant Parpan and current news reporters will also be involved in helping to grow northforker.com.

“Just like we provide timely, in-depth coverage of our schools, local governments and neighborhoods in our newspapers,” Mr. Parpan said, “this website and the magazines will allow us to cover food, wine, real estate and tourism on the Island and the North Fork with a heightened focus and attention to timeliness.”