Happy 22nd birthday to us!

By John Strand

jas@hpr1.com

The Little Newspaper That Could turned 22 last Thursday. It’s been a pretty wild journey, we have to admit, yet it continues. We are immensely proud of HPR’s path to where it is now. Bear with us as we reflect and ponder about the significance of such accomplishment.

Going back to the beginning, we’d be remiss for not thanking Peter Ryan, Ian Swanson, Rex Sorgatz, Led Schmid, Jim Johnson and others who back in 1994 decided while drinking a beer at Whitey’s Café in East Grand Forks that they’d create an alternative bi-weekly newspaper. In that discussion they coined the name High Plains Reader.

A little over two years later ownership changed and then four months later HPR’s world turned upside down when the Flood of 1997 devastated Grand Forks and decimated the paper’s advertising base. While we had been branching to Fargo already, we subsequently then made Fargo our new home base.

HPR was a black and white biweekly. It did not take us long to start publishing weekly and then in full color.

We could not be more proud of our story. Too many times when a new newspaper launched in Fargo it would all come to a crashing halt in less than three years. Turning 22 is significant in that light especially.

Yes, we’ve gone through some incredibly challenging times. We hit a financial wall about 2000 and then spent several years coming out of that. Yet a business grows stronger with stress. And wealth is not always measured simply how much money you have in your bank account, but rather by your heart and your impact on the world you’re in.

We’ve done a good job on that front.

HPR’s pages have been blessed with writings by a plethora of amazing people. It would be hard to count just how many have contributed their work. Some, like Chris Jacobs, Ed Raymond, Greg Carlson, for years. We just can’t thank them enough.

Our editors are a noteworthy group of visionaries: Ian Swanson and Rex Sorgatz while HPR was in Grand Forks and early phases of Fargo; John Lamb, Zach Kobrinsky, Diane Miller, Sabrina Hornung and this writer. Each had longstanding influences on the paper that would last years.

Len Schmid was an anchor design leader in the early years and later he mentored Raul Gomez. Long story short, HPR’s design legacy continues today and it’s quite frankly stellar. Our covers alone tell amazing stories about the issues shaping the Fargo and Grand Forks communities for years. Raul, as you likely know, is also HPR’s publisher and co-owner.

To our knowledge, the Reader is the fifth highest circulated newspaper in North Dakota as far as numbers go. We typically distribute about 11,000 papers in Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo every Thursday. It’s gratifying to see folks carrying HPR in their hands, especially the day the new issue hits the streets.

Recently we named Kristen Berg Rheault as our sales and marketing director. This is a harbinger of more change coming, good change. Our sales team with Jay Miller leading the pack is vital to us and we cannot appreciate them enough. Our delivery team never misses a beat thanks to George Mihlbauer, Ryan Larson and Jade Larsen.

Our readers are legion and they number in the thousands weekly. HPR has a presence on every campus. It has content for every generation.

All that said, we thank all of you over all these years for everything you’ve done with us and for us. We thank our advertisers who partner with us to reach out to each and every one of you. We thank our printer, Page 1, in Slayton, Minnesota; Doug Burchill, our banker at Bell Bank; Karen Stoker, our angel who carried us through a near death moment 15 years ago; our countless writers and contributors; and we thank our lucky stars for this opportunity to be your paper, for pride of place on your kitchen table.

Here’s to 22! HPR’s legacy is one we all helped shape and continue to do so going forward.