People have been reading articles about local communities, churches, the one big fish fry in the area during the pandemic and – no more spoiler alerts about what the thousands who visited CarrickExtra.com during 2021 read.
Here’s the Top Ten list of the most read local stories in the past year, building to the one that people read the most.
- Month after month, people went to to the Hillcrest Senior Residences article even though the facility is 100% leased. Getting on a wait list is the best they can do – with the aging population & not enough senior housing, wait lists are common at most senior living facilities. The Hillcrest Senior Residences article was the 10th most read article on CarrickExtra.com in 2021.
- People want to know about Bon Air, the mountaintop neighborhood of single family homes – often with amazing views. Its reputation for "country living in the city" made the article the 9th most read article of the year.
- Mt Oliver, a largely residential borough that is entirely surrounded by the City of Pittsburgh, was a popular read. Some of the interest may stem from the Hilltop Alliance expanding their business district improvement program to include the Mt Oliver Business District.
- The Overbrook article has been read frequently since it was published in 2020. Young families with children are moving into the affordable neighborhood at the edge of Pittsburgh. People who want to know more can look at historical archives at the Carrick-Overbrook Historical Society.
- Many visitors to CarrickExtra.com are going to the Brentwood Borough article to learn about the school district, library, arboretum, businesses, the Brentwood Firecracker 5K, the AHN Brentwood Neighborhood Hospital, Brentwood Towne Square and getting around one of the youngest suburbs around using public transit.
- The St Norbert’s Church article drew a lot of attention and readers month after month since it was published in March. The church closed five years ago (the school closed in the 1990s) but the interest in the former church and community institution remains strong.
- Of course the Carrick article should be well read on CarrickExtra.com. It has an overview, links to articles published here and a short history of the area.
- The Mt Oliver Fish Fry was the only one around this year. So naturally people read the lengthy article about it. Surprisingly, people continue to read the article month after month – making it the third most read article of the year – and probably will keep looking at it right up until the 2022 fish fry article is published.
- When the article listing all the places to vote in Carrick and South Pittsburgh was published, people read it in droves, propelling it into the number two spot on the the Most Read list.
- In October, CarrickExtra.com published an article about Pittsburgh Public Schools District 7. The article mentioned the uncontested race for the next District 7 board member in the November election. Almost overnight, it became the most read story of the year.
There you have it, ten articles that people read more than any other in 2021. The majority of them were written and published in 2020 as the pandemic spread worldwide. Five are about specific communities in the area.
CarrickExtra.com doesn’t publish during the holidays. New articles will appear in January, 2022.