PEAK TO PEAK - We are now 48 years old. In a time when large newspapers are disappearing or being bought up by hedge funds, and small-town papers are dying because their publishers are growing old and dying – we’re still here. Through ownership changes and editorial and staff changes, design and layout changes – we’re still here. Sometimes, for those of us who have been around for a while, it seems like a miracle.

It's understandable but regrettable that big-city flagship papers are dying. Now that we have a 24-hour news cycle on TV, and innumerable internet sources of “news” – or alternate news – one can see why readers prefer to get their news fresh, rather than a day old, and why advertisers then become reluctant to spend their cash on a failing enterprise. And like it or not, newspapers survive because advertisers buy space.

But local newspapers have a chance to stay alive because their news is not subject to the frantic cycle of the big stuff. Our news is local: local sports, local politics, local music and art, organizations, businesses, festivities, tragedies, births and deaths. Who cares when our high school teams win a tournament? We do! Who cares about the opening of a new business in town? When one of our kids is seriously injured in a car accident? When a local politician goes off the rails? These stories would never be covered in a large daily.

These intimate, local stories are our bread and butter (not to mention our advertisers’), and we keep each other alive. Sometimes it’s difficult. When Barbara Lawlor was with us, she attended every game for every sport at all the schools. She had a police scanner, and showed up at every serious call for either Gilpin or Nederland law enforcement. She was our official photographer. When she became ill and passed away, our first thoughts were, of course, for her, but our second was – how can The Mountain-Ear survive without Barbara Lawlor? 

But we did. We stretched. We grew. And yes, we struggled. There were tough years. We learned. We got grants that enabled us to feature local businesses, which then brought in more readers and more advertisers. We moved toward online offerings, and then podcasts – we became part of the 21st century. While remaining local – and extending our definition of local to surrounding areas with no news coverage.

And the latest miracle was the arrival of Christian Vanek. With his support and vision, with the resolution and perseverance of Barbara Hardt, The Mountain-Ear has blossomed into the award-winning newspaper you are reading now.

48 years. That’s something to celebrate. And we have so much to look forward to.