New story on the horizon for newspaper family
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
To our family, friends and beloved community members – we have some news to share with you. After 19 years of owning and operating the Valley Journal newspaper, we’re ready to begin a new adventure, chapter or story if you will. Though the decision was certainly bittersweet, we’ve decided to sell the newspaper as it is the right decision for our family at this point in our lives. We listed the business for sale on Sept. 28 with Mandi Luce-Heinie of EXIT Reality.
No doubt you are wondering why we would sell the business we helped start ourselves 990 weeks ago? (That’s how many issues we have consecutively published since September of 2004!) Great question with a not so simple answer. Partly, you start to feel like you are living in a loop after doing the same thing for so long. And though we’ve been honored to tell, and be a part of your stories, we started to wonder if this was all we’d do from start to finish in our professional lives. Ultimately, the right answer to that question is no. Although it is a bit scary to change such a long-standing routine it is equally exciting to begin something new.
Our children also seem to grow older faster and faster these days. We’ve too often found ourselves pulled away from them during evenings and weekends – precious times for young families. There’s no turning back the clock once your children have grown to make up for lost time. As people typically regret more the things they don’t do instead of the things they do, we’ve decided that the time to act is now.
It is our hope and intention to find a highly motivated, community minded individual with a love for local journalism to take the helm and breathe new life and energy into Your Homegrown Newspaper. We look forward to working with such a person or organization to smoothly transition operations. Until that time comes, we will continue to operate the Valley Journal with the same passion and commitment we always have. Your newspaper will still be delivered each and every week and both Summer and I will be available to talk to as always.
We have lived the life one hopes to live in northwest Montana - pulling all of the beauty from every nook and cranny, bathing in the wonderful connections that seem to flow from every direction and making a positive impact on the communities we call home. It is truly staggering the number of connections and friends we’ve made running this business - we are so thankful for all of them. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for being a part of our story these past 19 years and letting us tell yours.
To be honest, we don’t have any specific plans for what we’ll do next other than to take a much-needed break, re-center and find a new direction. Life has a funny way of nudging you or sometimes knocking you off your feet to remind you that this is all fleeting - and that change is as necessary as breathing. So as a family, we are taking a collective breath. Much like a glorious Mission Mountain sunrise or a Flathead Lake sunset there is beauty to be found in the moments we pause to enjoy.
