Shorewood has been around for more than half a century, but it was only in the last days of 2010 that it got the notoriety it deserves.

Sure, Shorewood’s not that far from Chicago. And it’s right next door to Joliet, a town that supposedly has an almost-daily newspaper. But it wasn't until the Shorewood Patch hatched that Shorewood was put on a pedestal appropriate to its inherent grandeur.

Indeed, when the Shorewood Patch showed up everything changed. You see, the Shorewood Patch is all Shorewood, all the time. And even though it officially started on Dec. 28, 2010 — exactly one year ago today — it is really a product of 2011.

After all, after those three days, it enjoyed — and we hope you did too — it’s first full year of existence.

Why don’t we look back at that year? It will be sort of like the Shorewood Rewind, except instead of seven days, we’ll be looking at what went down over 365. It’s a Super-Rewind, if you will. So let’s roll it back and remember what happened during Shorewood’s 2011. It was a great year, in a great place.

Jan. 1: Shorewood Patch editor Joe Hosey’s second daughter, Elyse, was born.

Jan. 10: Challenger Stevan Brockman looks to knock off one of three incumbents trying to keep a seat on the Shorewood Village Board.

Jan. 15: It was Martin Luther King Day. Also the birthday of Joe Hosey’s older daughter, Gracie.

Jan. 16: Pro-life activist Jill Stanek, who was once reviled as the "worst person in the world" by television personality Keith Olbermann, spoke at Shorewood’s Pathway Christian Fellowship Church.

Jan. 19: The mayor of the One True Shorewood bet the mayor of the other Shorewood the Bears would beat the Packers.

Jan. 23: The Bears lost.

Feb. 1: There was a blizzard.

Feb. 2: It was Groundhog Day and it kept snowing.

Feb. 8: Major League umpire Mark Carlson was declared the Most Interesting man in Troy Township.

Feb.  8: A Shorewood teen got caught up in a federal drug takedown.

Feb. 16: Drew Peterson’s case was heard by the Illinois Appellate Court.

Feb. 19: The Village of Oak Brook fired Drew Peterson’s police officer son.

March 4: Shorewood endured a rash of car burglaries.

March 11: Shorewood Patch editor Joe Hosey bought a new car.

March 18: The Shorewood Patch exposed the Illinois State Police for wrongly placing a Shorewood man on the sex offender registry years after a state police captain blamed the mistake on a Shorewood cop.

March 27: Shorewood Patch editor Joe Hosey and his family went to Disney World.

April 4: The Brookforest Avenue Dominick’s sold a winning lottery ticket.

April 5: Underdog challenger Stevan Brockman won a seat on the village board.

April 12: Accused family killer Christopher Vaughn’s big shot St. Louis lawyer didn’t show up for his court hearing in Joliet.

April 20: Village Administrator Kurt Carroll jumped off the S.S. Shorewood.

May 1: Osama bin Laden got what he deserved.

May 7: Drew Peterson spent a second year in jail.

May 10: Cut off from a veritable bottomless well of state money, Christopher Vaughn’s lawyers decide to quit the case.

May 17: The Shorewood cops got all Tasey in a Walgreens, shocking a Joliet man and themselves.

May 19: The closest professional sports team to Shorewood — the Slammers — opened their inaugural season.

May 24: The Shorewood police corralled a band of alleged car-breakers.

May 31: Former Cub slugger Keith Moreland visited Shorewood.

June 6: The Shorewood police arrested a local teen on heavy felonies after he allegedly ran over a young woman’s arm during a drug rip-off. But prosecutors dropped the charges to misdemeanors and he was later released from custody.

June 13: Crack county cop Ken Kaupas couldn’t find his Cadillac. Kaupas is a Shorewood resident.

June 14: Lifetime announced it is making a movie out of Fatal Vows, the book by me, Joe Hosey. Rob Lowe is going to star in this movie.

June 21: A Shorewood meat distributor recalled a mess of possibly bad sausage.

June 22: Joe Hosey went up to Chicago to check out the play Waiting For Drew Peterson. It was great.

June 25: Shorewood inventor and entrepreneur Michael Schuster won a prestigious award.

June 28: The Shorewood Village Board gave the go-ahead to buy another village employee a brand new four-wheel drive truck.

July 15: Beloved Shorewood gynecologist Thomas Heggen was jailed on felony drug and identity theft charges.

July 23: Shorewood Patch columnist Erin Gallagher breaks the news of long-time Police Chief Robert Puleo’s retirement.

July 26: The appellate court ruled that Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow blew his deadline to appeal the ruling on what hearsay evidence can be used against accused wife-killer Drew Peterson.

July 28: Guess who’s playing Joe Hosey in a movie? Yeah, we never heard of him either.

Aug. 5: That nobody actor playing Joe Hosey in the movie is too cool to be Joe Hosey’s friend on Facebook.

Aug. 5: The Bank of Shorewood went bust.

Aug. 6: Joe Hosey was in a dunk tank.

Aug. 7: Mayor Chapman broke his ankle.

Aug. 23: Federal agents hauled a Shorewood IT guy off to jail on a charge of child pornography possession.

Aug. 30: After failing on four previous attempts, Drew Peterson’s crack legal team tries for a fifth time to get him sprung from jail. SPOILER ALERT: It didn’t work.

Sept. 5: It was Labor Day. Workers of the world unite!

Sept. 8: Football started.

Sept. 11: It was September 11.

Sept. 13: Shorewood police Cmdr. Aaron Klima replaced Robert Puleo as the third police chief in the history of Shorewood.

Sept. 15: New Lenox, already with Kurt Carroll in its pocket, stole away Shorewood Economic Development Coordinator Nancy Roman, who will get to spend most of her time working from her new home in Texas.

Sept. 16: Joliet’s taking a lot of crap from Shorewood.

Sept. 21: There was apparently an inordinate amount of “forcible rape” in Shorewood, according to an FBI report.

Sept. 23: Happy birthday, Typhoid Mary.

Oct. 6: Shorewood Mayor Rick Chapman announced Jeff Fiegenschuh will replace the departed Kurt Carroll, pending the approval of the village board.

Oct. 10: Happy Columbus Day!

Oct. 10: A Shorewood man was killed in a downstate boating accident.

Oct. 11: Village Trustee Steve Brockman voted against hiring new administrator Jeff Fiegenschuh.

Oct. 14: Shorewood was the home to not one but two homecoming queens.

Oct. 23: Two Shorewood police officers landed in the hospital but captured an alleged shoplifter after a chase up Route 59.

Oct. 28: It was the fourth anniversary of Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.

Oct. 31: Happy Halloween!

Nov. 4: Shorewood’s own Bosak brothers were finalists in a Heidi Klum costume contest.

Nov. 5: We turned our clocks back.

Nov. 9: The Federal Emergency Management Agency, along with the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, conducted the first ever test of the nationwide Emergency Alert System.

Nov. 11: It was Veterans Day. Vietnam Veteran Bill Nixon shared his memoirs with us.

Nov. 16: The same Joliet guy keeps getting arrested for allegedly panhandling in Shorewood.

Nov. 18: It’s going to cost more to turn on the tap in Camelot.

Nov. 22: Frank Richkus lost a home to the flood of 1996, and another to a fire 15 years later.

Nov. 24: Thanksgiving: A Celebration of Treachery.

Nov. 30: The Illinois Supreme Court sent Drew Peterson’s case back to the appellate court.

Dec. 2: An escaped convict was caught hiding in a portable toilet at Rockdale’s Waste Management facility.

Dec. 8: Lifetime announced the broadcast date for the movie based on my (Joe Hosey) book, Fatal Vows.

Dec. 12: State Rep. Jack McGuire’s wife’s place in Shorewood is a mess, and the neighbors don’t like it.

Dec. 14: Lifetime releases the trailer for the movie based on my (Joe Hosey) book.

Dec. 15: State’s Attorney James Glasgow warned merchants not to sell synthetic marijuana.

Dec. 19: A Plainfield couple is suing Shorewood over the alleged injuries their daughter suffered in a sled crash in Four Seasons Park.

Dec. 21: Is the trailer for the movie they’re basing on my (Joe Hosey) book the best movie trailer ever? It sure looks that way.

Dec. 22: The Shorewood cops are after a band of house-breakers.

Dec. 25: Merry Christmas!

Dec. 28: The Shorewood Patch turns 1 year old today. Happy Birthday to us!