by Joyce Carlson Many readers might miss a numerical change in small type on the front of today’s Powell River Peak.
The move from Volume 20 to Volume 21 means the Peak has been published in this community for 20 years and has moved into its 21st year.
Because of how annual calendars work, the volume change comes early. Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Peak hit the streets on November 23, 1995, then Volume 2 came after 51 issues, and so on. It’s how newspapers mark the passage of time.
Birthdays are celebrated by date and not issues so our plans for a party have set Wednesday, November 25, the closest date to our launch publication, for a celebratory open house at the Peak office.
Two decades have gone by quickly and thinking back on the beginning brings memories that few people in the newspaper industry have. Working on a Volume 1, Issue 1 publication, even 20 years ago, was rare, much rarer than 40 or 50 years ago when startup newspapers were more common.
I remember going for lunch with a publisher friend of mine in the late 80s. He asked me about things I would like to do in my life. On the list were being Prime Minister of Canada and owning my own newspaper. I actually thought I had a better chance of becoming Prime Minister than I did of achieving the other goal.
In the summer of 1995, I was living on Salt Spring Island and finishing off my year as president of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association. During a visit with a close newspaper friend at our cabin on Powell Lake, discussion centred on what I wanted to do next. It moved on to starting a newspaper and where that might occur. My hometown topped the list. Actually saying it out loud made it seem possible.
Reaching out to others in the industry led to formulating a business plan, creating a prototype newspaper and showing it to members of the Powell River business community.
I left my publisher position on the Gulf Island and returned home to open a newspaper office on October 30.
A team of newspaper friends from as far away as Ontario arrived to work on that rare Volume 1, Issue 1. Some local residents willing to take a chance on a brand-new business joined them.
Three weeks of 21 nights with very little sleep later, we had a paper on the street. The scariest part was that seven days later, we had to do the same thing in a lot less time.
I pledged to do whatever it took to succeed, including working seven days a week, many of them very long days, for two years.
That shows what can be accomplished with constantly pumping adrenalin and a strong team. There was nothing that could beat that feeling, nothing could even come close, even throughout the hundreds of exhausting hours.
Gradually time at work became more in balance with time at home, but the buzz surrounding publishing a newspaper and connecting with my community has not diminished.
Some people go to work to make money so they can do the things they really love to do. I have always gone to work to do the things I really love to do.
Born and raised in Powell River, Joyce Carlson is the founder of Peak Publishing Ltd. After 45 years in the newspaper business, she will retire on December 31.
