If you’ve come anywhere near me or one of my reporters this week, you no doubt have heard us complain that we are in the midst of “Progress” and can’t be bothered to think about anything else, or communicate coherently. By the time the final deadline rolls around, many of us are hard-pressed to remember our own names.

OK, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but the production of our annual “Progress Chenango” editions is one of the most difficult, and rewarding, tasks we undertake here at The Evening Sun all year. Published every day during the last week in January, the preparations for Progress actually begin in early December. With a dozen or so stories to set up, interview, photograph, write, re-write, re-interview, edit, lay out and print, it’s a monumental task for our already taxed staff.

For the uninitiated, Progress Chenango is ... well ... here’s what I wrote for the sales letter: “To say that it’s been a tumultuous year for business is an understatement. A faltering stock market, the mortgage crisis, bailouts for banks and auto manufacturers – it seems 2008 was all about ‘bad news’ headlines.

“But what about Chenango County? Is the picture here as bleak as it seems to be on the national scale? Not even close. While we’ve certainly felt the trickle-down effects of an unstable economy, by and large Chenango’s businesses – big and small – have met those challenges head-on in the way that we so often do – with perseverance and ingenuity.

“Progress Chenango 2009 will track those qualities which make our local businesses so resilient, and examine how area employers are preparing to meet the challenges which lie ahead. At the end of each January, The Evening Sun’s highly-anticipated Progress edition is a full five days of special sections encompassing the county’s business, social, education and religious climates in a telling snapshot of the year that was, and a look at what the future may hold.”