BLACK HAWK — My week runs a little different than most weeks. Mine wraps up on Wednesday. Then on Thursday we begin again, working on what will be in next week's paper. After a bit over 19 years, I feel like the flow runs pretty well. More than that, I feel like we are on a great path forward.
When I bought the paper so many years ago, my only goal was to save it. It was in a position where it was either going to find someone to take it over, or it was going to end up closing.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I mean, I was hired to sell classifieds. By the time the sale came around, I had learned the billing system, sold display ads, worked on circulation, and was assigning content.
Shortly after that I brought back the two people who never should have been run off from the paper: Barbara Lawlor and George Blevins. Both were incredible to have back on staff.
All this under the guidance of Cynthia Davis, our designer for many years. During this process, Cynthia was my inspiration and taught me a lot about the newspaper business.
It only got better from there. We took it from several hundred subscribers to over 1000 in the first year. We brought back advertisers that had left because of previous ownership. We brought in amazing journalists, editors, and kept moving forward to rebuild what had been lost.
For 16 years, the paper changed, grew, revamped, struggled, overcame tremendous obstacles, and still printed every single week. For that, I am proud.
For the last three years, the paper has been growing by leaps and bounds. Coming through Covid and keeping any of our staff on board was very difficult. But when the paper sold, we were given an opportunity not only to survive, but thrive.
Since then we have added a lot of paid professional people, streamlined our process even more, brought in people to round out the TEAM, and refocused our goals on what is best to keep the publication moving forward in a very positive manner.
This past week, I have been working a lot more at home, battling some kind of illness, but also thankful I have a lot of projects to finish this year.
10 years of the historic archive was sent last week to be processed. These will be added to the Colorado historic newspaper collection, and will be free to access through their site. These will also be on our site into perpetuity.
Speaking of the archive, I want to thank a few key people who have made it happen. Tanya Unger worked in the archive for over two years. She started the process of organizing it all by date, zipping it into bags and then plastic containers, to preserve it. Then Hayden Hardt-Zeman and Kaia Cole picked it up from there. It's moving forward quickly and I am excited to wrap this up this year!
So, what’s next? Right now we are working on our Body Mind Spirit guide. We’re hoping this will come out sometime between February and March. This is a health and wellness focused guide that covers the entire Peak to Peak region as well as the Foothills.
We’re also expanding it to include some of our favorite communities that have amazing hot springs.
Once we finish the Body Mind Spirit guide, we move right into our Peak to Peak Visitor's Guide. Our visitors guide is going to include the Taste of the Peaks, featuring all of our local restaurants and venues. It will include places to shop for our Shop Local section.
And it will include our Peak to Peak Studio Tour section as well. We are planning to add some fun maps into this project.
We also have a brand new publication called the Caribou Current. This is an arts and culture publication that covers the Foothills and the entire Peak to Peak region.
We offer the best and most comprehensive advertising to reach more readers than any publication in the entire region. And we do it every single week with The Mountain-Ear, once a year with the Peak to Peak Visitor's Guide, once a year with Body Mind Spirit, and once per month with the Caribou Current.
To find information about advertising, click here: https://themtnear.com/advertise/ or reach out to our amazing sales team. We have a marketing package to meet every budget and we have the largest reach in the entire region, every single week!
Kaia Cole by email at kcole@themountainear.com or phone 303-619-8152. Kaia covers Gilpin County and north Clear Creek County.
Carter Ferryman at carter@themountainear.com or phone 303-886-0275. Carter covers the foothills of Lyons, Boulder, and Golden.
Amanda MacDonald at adsales@themountainear.com or phone 720-960-2900. Amanda covers western Boulder County and western Jefferson County.
We are here for you, our readers, our friends and neighbors, to provide you with the latest and most accurate news of our region. As well as to connect businesses with local residents, support, and more.
If you are interested in finding out more about what we do, this amazing team of people, and all of our publications, reach out anytime to info@themountainear.com or give us a call at 303-810-5409. The Mountain-Ear is YOUR community source for news, covering everything you need to know, where to be and what to see, since 1977.
