The Little Newspaper That Could

Happy 30th Birthday HPR

By John Strand

jas@hpr1.com

Thirty years ago some gutsy UND student journalists hanging at Whitey’s in East Grand Forks got enough liquid courage to create their own damn newspaper. Then with drinks raised, they toasted the paper’s name, the High Plains Reader. The first issue was dated September 8, 1994.

There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. Hundreds of editions, thousands of pages and bylines. Countless contributors and advertisers. The fact that The Little Newspaper That Could still exists is testimony to heart, community and hope — yes, hope for better tomorrows for our people. And that means you.

While not being too dour, we also have a list of anchor contributors and writers who have died. Their legacies continue, however, in the annals of HPR.

Started in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, after new ownership in December 1996 and then the historic flood of 1997, HPR established its base in Fargo to simply survive. The next near-deadly blow came with the Pandemic of 2020.

Yet here we still are, a monthly now, but alive and kicking. And with a broader audience, as HPR can be found in Jamestown, Valley City, Dickinson, Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo. We publish 10,000 issues on the third Thursday of each month and estimate our print readership to be over 20,000. Online at hpr1.com there are another estimated 10,000 monthly readers.

The High Plains Reader never did match any description of an alternative newspaper. We are in North Dakota, after all. But we did have our days with the bustling personals which fuel such papers for a moment in time. We always laid claim to the arts, entertainment and film worlds locally.

We never used the F word in headlines, yet fearlessly took on the establishment and Old Boys Network time and again.

HPR was (and is) a voice for those too often voiceless in our community. Our tent is wide, welcoming and open, our extended family as diverse as we could be here in the hinterland. Our backbone has sometimes been all that existed between marginalized, easily targeted people and the belligerent and bulldozing leadership — locally and at the state level.

Gay Rights. Women’s Rights. Minority Rights. The Disabled. BIPOC. Trans. Poor People. Our list is the right list and on the right side of history. HPR pushed the envelope countless times — and unapologetically. We are a better community because of HPR and its empathetic army of contributors.

Changing times and eras reflect our journey as well as our challenges. Thirty years ago, The Reader was likely the first North Dakota newspaper paginated with computers versus the old wax and paste layout. The first tab newspaper. The first four-color newspaper, generally. The most highly circulated non-daily paper in the state by far, for years.

We are the first editorially driven, non-subscription newspaper that survived. The first new newspaper in Fargo to survive more than 30 months in decades. And now it’s our 30th birthday.

HPR’s position in the arts world locally is unparalleled. Fifteen years ago, commemorating our 15th Birthday, the Plains Art Museum hosted an exhibit of HPR cover art. It was spectacular — and they even extended the exhibit for additional time.

Our cover art, created mostly by Raul Gomez, HPR’s publisher and co-owner, set a high bar and consistently provoked the reader, viewer and onlooker. Raul often collaborated with other visual artists. The best of the best were featured on our covers, in full color and disseminated by the thousands. Today, that tradition continues with designer Josie Gereszek.

Sabrina Hornung has been at the editorial helm for nine years now. She followed a procession of colorful and capable, definitely unique editors who established the tone and roadmap for High Plains Reader coverage. Alicia Underlee Nelson and JoRelle Grover are the advertising team keeping the newspaper alive financially. Ed Raymond, Greg Carlson and Rick Gion are anchor contributors.

Yes, times will change. We can count on that. But with heart and shared vision, anything is possible, even the creation and continuation of a progressive-minded newspaper in conservative North Dakota. And we ain’t done.

Here’s to all before us who dreamed, all those who gave so generously, to all who stood up when others did not, who spoke up when others were silent, who together and individually defined this shared collective output called the High Plains Reader.

North Dakota is better for it, Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are better as well. Even western Minnesota — just ask around.

Lastly and literally, our bottom line; please thank our advertisers who invest in reaching you through the pages of HPR. Give them your business, because it’s they who truly make all this possible.

HAPPY 30th, HPR! Kudos and many more happy returns to The Little Newspaper That Could. And hey you, Reader readers, know always that you are loved.