Memories and New Beginnings

Though this week’s HPR is dated Dec. 25, most of you won’t see it until the 26th, weather permitting, of course. Also, it is the time of year when we take a two-week break from putting out a newspaper. So the next HPR hitting the streets will be Jan. 15, ‘09. This week’s calendar and advertising will carry you through the three-week span nicely, we suspect. There is always something to do.

Looking back, it has been an incredibly eventful year for us, our newspaper, and our community. Most significantly, we seemed to reach a plateau of sorts that perhaps is simply associated with time on the job: HPR is in its 15th year and with that comes maturity, growth, depth and breadth.

Associated with that evolution was the naming of Zach Kobrinsky as HPR’s new editor late in 2008. That alone heralds big news if you ask us. Nonetheless, it reflects significant movement and directional change. We are adding a very key player to our already-talented bench and quite frankly we are excited about the prospects ahead content-wise for HPR and its audience of 20,000-plus week in and week out.

Another highlight of the past year was the re-launch of hpr1.com, our constantly-changing and nicely-evolving web presence. We love it. We also love where it is going. Phil Leitch and Unwound Design gave us a template that builds in future modifications and community outreach. More and more, our web presence will escalate into a daily—not weekly—enterprise.

So it is with a full heart that we embrace the spirit of the holiday season. We here at HPR are abundant in so many ways that we cannot even begin to make a list, let alone check it twice. But we are
blessed and we are truly wealthy because of the company we keep, truly.

One of the benefits of cycles of time is we can as creatures of habit revisit our habits and sometimes start anew. News Years tend to foster that, of course. But in this day and age of dark horizons and difficult circumstances, we can take heart in the simple presence of each other, here and now. Yes, times are tough, but tough in these parts is not comparable necessarily to tough in other parts of the world.

We at HPR have reinvented the way we do business so many times it’s almost a way of life. We are experienced at living lean and frugally, and we look forward to extending that knowledge base into the way we partner with our broader community in the times ahead. We have a lot in common and we have immense talent within our collective reach to move mountains—or in our instance, to BUILD mountains.

Happy Holidays, everyone, from all of us at HPR. We’ll be back on the streets Jan. 15.

January Birthdays:

Happy January birthdays to the following people: Meg Spielman-Peldo, Mitch Kadlec, Kitty Curfmann, Sean Oihus, Jeanne Waffle, David Thordarson, Joyce Offutt, Dave Lampher, Nicci Olson, Brent Janeicki, Joe Powers, Joy Hartje, Alfred Jason Lindell, Ed Griffin, Berrett Gall, Dan Weiler, Tedi Jensen, Jan Webb, Kilee Kadrie-Weiler, Alicia Kline, Corey Blair, Sherry Adams, Bob Strand, Kathy Thompson, Ed Schultz, Craig Thorfinnson, Tom Strand, Chad Bertsch, Mary Cutrufello, Chris Lindgren, Abe Winter, Sister Stella Olson, Linda Gunderson, Ben Clayburgh, Tara Holt, Raul Gomez.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)