Sylvia Wallace Myrvold, grew up in the Uvas Valley of Morgan Hill, left after graduating from Gilroy High School in 1967 and then returned to Gilroy with her husband, Paul, and their 3 children in 1984. Sylvia and Paul were both very active in theatre, regionally and on Broadway but decided to bring their children home to family rather than raise them in New York. Gilroy, having a decided lack of professional theatre opportunities, meant changing their career paths. After trying a few things, Sylvia ended up working in production for a local newspaper. There she developed her graphics skills, including providing their local editorial cartoons and a weekly comic strip for 3 years. Various moves in print media brought her to the Good Times in Santa Cruz and to Bay Area Parent. Eventually she decided to go back to Gilroy and start her own magazine, a resource guide, aimed at helping established residents and newcomers to the area get the most out of their time without spending too much time in their cars. On June 1, 2000 the first issue of Out & About Magazine was distributed to Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Hollister. Today it is delivered to Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin, Hollister, San Juan Bautista, Los Banos, Salinas, Prunedale, Aromas, Watsonville, Castroville and Moss Landing.

Articles in Out & About Magazine are written by local residents. All the columnists either work or participate in the activity they write about. Out & About Magazine does not do profiles of businesses or people, except for restaurant or theatre reviews. You may, however, run an advertorial, 1/2 or full page usually does it, telling about your business. It is charged the same as an ad with the words “paid advertising” in small print at the bottom.

Unlike the newspapers, we do not cover events that have passed. Our magazine is aimed toward the future. We want to tell our readers where to go have fun, not how much fun they missed.

Advertising and editorial are completely separate departments. If you are interested in writing a column, submit a sample, 450 words maximum, to editor@outandaboutmagazine.com. No promise it will be used. We do not pay for columns. If there is information on an upcoming event, send it for the calendar or for possible consideration for an article. Our space is limited so we cannot use everything we read.

Current columns running
on a monthly basis include:

Film (Paul Myrvold), Running (Craig Lore), Walking Woman (Rosemary Rideout), Cycling (Curt Hentschke), Music (Alex Myrvold), Theatre (Paul Myrvold) and Pets (Friends of the San Martin Animal Shelter). We also have a monthly Kids Calendar, What’s Up at Gavilan College and Community Events Calendar as well as 2 or 3 special features and programs to events like the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras.

In the fall we publish our yearly Restaurant Guide which is distributed to the hotels and motels in the area throughout the entire year. March, April and May are the annual Camps feature. We also feature brides in our January and June issues and sponsor a Bridal Faire in February. We always have a big feature for the California Rodeo in Salinas and a guide to 4th of July activities. Columns in the Spring include articles on Elder Care and Careers.

Out & About Magazine has become an essential part of our readers lives. They look for it to help plan their lives, especially their weekends, whether it is at home in the garden, off on a bike ride or taking a guided tour of the local wildflowers or bird watching. We have a little of everything for everybody.