About Town was originally founded in 1984 by Liz Weisz, Elena Erber, Karen Thompson, and Vivian Wadlin, and was initially called The Guide To New Paltz. The four women worked together in a marketing/advertising firm and began to see there was no very low cost advertising vehicle for area merchants. They also saw the need to provide information on the great variety of things there were to do and see in Southern Ulster County. Putting the two perceived needs together, they developed and published the first quarterly Guide to New Paltz in December 1984.

In 1987, The Guide expanded its geographic coverage to the Southern Ulster County towns from the Hudson River to the Shawangunk Ridge and from south of Kingston to Milton/Marlboro and Gardiner. The Guide became About Town. Since 1988, Vivian Wadlin has been the sole publisher and owner. In 1997, a sister publication was founded by Gail Jaffe-Bennek and Paul DeAngelis in Northern Dutchess and Columbia Counties. The two publications combined website was started in Fall of 2001. Both publishers were often called by out-of-area people wanting to have About Town sent to them. The website answered that need and offered other opportunities as well. Keeping the calendars of events more current was one advantage, and the ability to add advertisers mid-season was another.

In the Southern Ulster print version of About Town, some advertisers have been with us for more than two decades. The Bakery, Bacchus, P&Gs, Lance's Plumbing, and Wallkill View Farms have been with us more than twenty years.

The single best benefit from advertising in About Town happened almost 20 years ago to a local plumber. A long-lost girlfriend saw his business ad in About Town and called to say hello. They began dating again, married, and have a wonderful daughter.

About Town publisher, Vivian Yess Wadlin, was born and raised in New Paltz. She has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Marist College and has owned and managed an advertising and marketing firm in New Paltz for more than two decades. She hates to cook, loves to read.

Vivian can be contacted by email at viv@abouttown.us (When using email, please put About Town in the subject line); by phone at 845-691-2089, or fax at 845-468-7020 and by postmail at PO Box 474, New Paltz, NY 12561.