‘Twas a mighty party

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We are so grateful to everyone who helped us celebrate our 15th birthday.

We tried something a little different this year. Creemore Springs Brewery was kind enough to let us host our celebration in the beautiful, newly renovated retail space, where people could sample their brews. (Beer and birthday cake turned out to be a winning combo.)

Thank you to all of our many readers, advertisers and contributors who came to the party. We were certainly chuffed by the wonderful turnout.

We work every week with limited resources to put out a newspaper that connects community to the information, services and social events. It can be somewhat discouraging to be in the newspaper business at a time when the medium is struggling. Like most newspapers, big and small, we have lost national news agency ads and local corporate advertising as companies turn away from print media and turn to more modern media, mainly digital. We all know that newspapers struggle to monetize that digital content and as a result, jobs are cut and newspaper offices shuttered. The obvious problem being that there will be no one left to create the content that draws readers, the audience for the advertising.

So that is why it is especially meaningful to see a roomful of people who support and appreciate The Creemore Echo, as the local independent newspaper. We need you more than ever.

We also received many nice comments from people who sent regrets. Former owner Craig Simpson and his wife Barbara sent a lovely plant knowing The Echo staff would fail to keep it alive. Helen and Bob Chung and Kathy and Brad Denison also brought us beautiful flowers.

A special thank you to current owner Tom Vandewater and his mother Mary Vandewater for making the trip north to take in the party.

We also thank everyone who came in to enter a draw for free advertising. Deanna Stribling, Chris Raible and Emma Noonan are the lucky winners of $150 of free advertising.

We certainly hope The Creemore Echo will go on to serve this community for many years to come.

Our annual subscription drive starts next month. You will see Echo staffers at the Creemore Farmers’ Market Saturdays from May 21 to June 11 peddling newspapers to current subscribers and hopefully some new ones. We also have a volunteer subscription program for those who receive the newspaper free in their mailbox each week to help cover postal and production costs.