We Did It,! Macaroni KID Wins Simply the Best in Two Categories

Well, Village, you did a thing.

Actually, you did two things.

Marketing, but make it personal

The Promotional or Marketing Services win means so much because I have never believed that good local marketing should feel like shouting an advertisement at people and hoping somebody nearby happens to need the thing. Good marketing begins by understanding the people you are trying to reach, what matters to them, and why a business, event, or organization might genuinely belong in their lives.

Sometimes that means building a campaign around a major family event; sometimes it means helping a new small-business owner explain an idea that exists clearly in their head but refuses to cooperate when they try to put it into words. It can mean a dedicated article, social storytelling, newsletter promotion, event sponsorship, community introductions, or finding the one photograph that makes a parent stop scrolling long enough to think, “Wait, my kid would LOVE that.”

The goal is not simply to put businesses in front of families. It is to help the right families discover the businesses, organizations, resources, and experiences that may become part of their own stories.

The story behind the business

This business began long before I knew it would become a business.

I grew up in abject poverty, surrounded by instability, abuse, neglect, and periods when I did not know where I would sleep or what I would eat. I understood very early what it meant to need a village, and I also understood how deeply even one safe adult, one donated gift, one meal, or one person who truly noticed could matter.

When I became a mother, I built my life around giving my children the stability I had not known. Eventually, however, I began searching for work that could hold all of me: the mother, writer, advocate, organizer, marketer, storyteller, and slightly overenthusiastic person who hears “small community event” and immediately begins imagining 30 partners and a color-coded site plan.

In May 2024, I became the publisher of Macaroni KID Harrisburg & West Shore, believing, somewhat adorably, that I had purchased a website and a newsletter. What I had actually taken on was a community filled with families looking for connection, small businesses trying to become visible, nonprofits doing essential work, and stories waiting for someone local to tell them.

Macaroni KID became the place where motherhood and meaningful work stopped competing and began working together.

One newsletter became a regional village

The original publication grew. In 2025, I added the Carlisle-area and Hershey-area editions; in 2026, I reorganized the region into Macaroni KID Hershey & Harrisburg and Macaroni KID Carlisle & West Shore, giving families on each side of the Susquehanna River a truly local home while recognizing that plenty of family fun is worth crossing the bridge for.

Along the way, Macaroni KID became more than a place to find weekend plans. It became a way to connect families with resources, give small businesses a trusted local voice, strengthen nonprofit organizations, create inclusive events, and build relationships between people who might otherwise never find one another.

The business grew because the village grew around it.

About that “one-person operation”

Technically, yes, Macaroni KID by Rachael B. is a one-person operation. I am the publisher, writer, editor, salesperson, marketer, event planner, designer, photographer, calendar keeper, social media manager, community liaison, and person who eventually notices that the coffee I made three hours ago is still sitting untouched beside the computer.

I do much of the visible work myself, but calling this a one-person story would never be accurate. My husband and five children have lived through community events, family-review adventures, photo shoots, late-night deadlines, mysterious stacks of event supplies, and the phrase “I have an idea,” which they now understand may affect the next several weekends.

Local businesses have trusted me with their stories. Nonprofits have invited me into their missions. Community partners have helped turn ideas into real experiences, and readers have sent events, shared articles, opened newsletters, nominated businesses, offered feedback, and reminded me over and over that this work matters beyond the numbers on a screen.

The operation may have one employee. The village does not.

What your votes recognized

These awards have my business name on them, but the work they recognize reaches far beyond one person.

This belongs to the village

Thank you to every person who nominated Macaroni KID, voted, shared the ballot, sent an encouraging message, opened a newsletter, read an article, attended an event, recommended a local business, or told a friend where they found their weekend plans.

Thank you to the businesses and organizations that have trusted me with your stories, your marketing, your events, and your community goals. Thank you to the nonprofits and advocates who keep doing essential work, often without nearly enough attention or resources, and who allow Macaroni KID to help carry that work farther.

Thank you to my family, who did not exactly apply for positions in this operation but have nevertheless become models, reviewers, event helpers, product testers, reluctant photo subjects, enthusiastic photo subjects, and the reason this business exists in the first place.

You did not simply vote for a marketing service or a one-person business. You voted for the kind of community resource we have been building together.

I am deeply proud of these awards, enormously grateful to everyone who made them possible, and more committed than ever to helping local families find the people, places, resources, and experiences that make Central Pennsylvania feel like home.

It takes a village.
We’re building it.

Find your family fun

Follow your local edition or subscribe to both because, as every Central Pennsylvania family knows, some things are absolutely worth crossing the river for.