by Ray Small, Editor
As we prepare to hand the Gazette over to its next owner, Kim and I want to say “thank you” to all the readers, subscribers, and advertisers who supported our efforts to keep the paper up and running for the last seven years.
We want to call attention to the heroic efforts by the people who get the paper out each week: our sports writers, community Journalists, correspondents, and especially our newsroom mavens Sandy Atkins and Dawn Gustafson, and our photographer, Vanessa Fournier.
We also want to acknowledge the board members from Northeast Kingdom Public Journalism who have volunteered to run the paper starting next year. Every one of these folks is qualified, dedicated – and has a boatload of other time commitments. We are all lucky to have them in service of the Gazette.
Kim and I moved to Hardwick to help the Gazette continue its legacy of service to the community: “Independent local news since 1889.” We didn’t know anyone in the Hardwick area but made good friends and truly enjoyed our time here. Hiking, bike rides, cross-country skiing around the backyard, or picking apples at Burtt’s: life in the Northeast Kingdom suited us very well indeed. I ran the paper, while Kim joined Cabot Mentoring and played the flute with the Vermont Philharmonic.
We learned a lot. We learned the value of proper house insulation by living in the apartment above the newsroom in the Gazette building during the first year. We learned how to pull our cars out of snowbanks. Then we learned how not to slide off the road and into snowbanks. We came to appreciate short mud seasons. And we learned the value of a local newspaper.
Some say a local paper is important because it builds community. Others say that the local weekly is the “first draft of a town’s history.” I believe both are true. I have also learned that the value of a newspaper can find powerful expression in its impact on everyday life.
One reader told me about the time she visited the home of a member of her church. The home was modest and there was little in the way of decoration. However, taped to the wall in the living room were several articles from the Gazette that described one of the kids’ exploits as a Hazen Wildcat. The reader said it was the first thing you saw when you walked into the room.
Another reader spoke of how much he appreciated the Gazette, especially because the paper in his childhood hometown had closed several years before. He said that when that paper closed, “our sense of community lost some of its focus; the town just became a little blurrier.”
I am optimistic about the Gazette’s future. I will do what I can to make the transition successful and, if needed, I will work in whatever capacity the new board deems helpful. I am also pretty sure that the board will need a lot of help from the community. If you have a memory of when the Gazette had an impact on you, your family, or your friends, consider using that as motivation for helping the paper succeed in its new role as a community-based nonprofit organization. Even if you don’t have a compelling memory, consider getting involved. I’m confident you will make a Gazette memory, if not for yourself, then for a friend or a neighbor.
Kim and I wish you and yours all the best for the holidays and a happy New Year! We wish the Gazette at least another 134 years of success.
