New Echo owner grateful for support

Thank you. The congratulations and well wishes around my acquisition of this paper have been overwhelming and encouraging.

Your kind words and appreciation for The Creemore Echo’s work helps bolster the resolve I have as a publisher.

Being a business owner is a risky endeavour and running a local weekly feels even riskier as we watch legacy media crumble around us, but thanks to all of you the decision to purchase The Echo was easy. My confidence that Creemore has what it takes to sustain a newspaper is based on our attributes as a community.

This community cares. Our village knows that friends and neighbours are a big part of what makes living here special. We want to know if the Valley Hawks are in the playoffs and who got a moonshot at euchre. We like seeing familiar faces as front page news. We want to know about the births and deaths of people from our corner of the world. The Echo is committed to providing a place where residents have an opportunity to share and connect.

This community is engaged. We want to know about local politics. We want a forum for ideas and a place to advocate for what we believe in.

With Trina as our editor this community is given the fair and accurate reporting it needs to be informed and involved. We make it a priority to share this community’s opinions. With this The Echo supports democracy and good government.

This community is entrepreneurial. Creemore’s economy is full of independent businesses and their owners. We are hard workers who value our customers. We know and care about our clients in a way that more distant service providers cannot. The Echo provides opportunities for advertising and tells the stories of the people working in our area. By doing this we aim to support local economic development and prosperity.

This community is busy. Every week Georgi is inundated with information about local events and activities. We serve luncheons. We run bazaars. We sing in choirs. We host concerts. We cook up dinners. We read from books and we share art. We come together to celebrate and support our talents and interests. The Echo encourages everyone to get out there, do something and have fun.

This community is generous. Thanks to our advertisers, as well as everyone who subscribes, boosts and champions this paper, we can afford to get The Echo out each week and maintain Creemore.com but we do not take this generosity for granted. The Echo must provide services that are valuable and unique enough to ensure everyone’s ongoing support.

So with huge gratitude to Tom and Mary Vandewater and the team here at The Echo, I enter into the ownership of this paper with a respect for all this community is and optimism for all it can be.

– Sara Hershoff