HOT PURSUIT
People often ask me if we have a slower time of the year. I usually end up laughing. From my perspective, there really is no slow period.
As you can imagine, the cycle of a normal school year keeps us hopping with lots of school activities and sports to cover. There is never a shortage of things going on with four school districts in our coverage area.
Once graduations are past, one would think we’re on easy street for the rest of the summer. But that’s definitely not the case. Along with the summer heat, all the community celebrations and festivals kick into action and heat up. We have been busting our butts to make sure most of those events are covered.
There is also this little event in our back yard claiming to be Minnesota’s largest county fair that consumes much of our time. Currently, we are planning our fair coverage and putting together a special fair section like we have for many years. We are always thrilled to be involved with the Steele County Free Fair, along with a few of the other area county fairs.
On Aug. 7, we will publish our fair edition highlighting everything you’ll ever want to know and more about this year’s Steele County Fair, which promises “Adventures to Explore in 2024.”
By the middle of next month, our sports department will be gearing up for the fall sports preview highlighting all the area teams.
Unlike many newspapers of our size, we are aggressive in publishing special sections. Each year we do roughly 12 special “tabs” of various topics from farming to fairs to home improvement and nonprofit organizations. And this year you can throw another one into the mix—a voter’s guide to highlight candidates running in the upcoming election.
If you see a smaller weekly newspaper at times, it’s likely because we are working on special projects like the tabs. It’s certainly not because of a lack of stories to cover. I shared a few weeks ago how we regularly have about a dozen stories that we end up holding for future publications.
In the newspaper world, there really is no rest for the wicked. Our work doesn’t ever seem to cease. Readers want their news at all times, and we’re happy to be providing them with that local connection.
I guess if I had to pick one month as being the slow time, it would be January. It seems like there is always a little down time after the holidays. But it doesn’t take long and we’re launching into special projects for the year.
We also have something new coming to our paper in early August. I’m going to keep you in suspense, but let’s just say it has something to do with letters and numbers adding up to big prizes.
As you can see, we’re always in hot pursuit of keeping ourselves busy to make our readers enjoy that special connection to their communities.