Progress on Progress
This is a really busy time for those of us who work at the Creston News Advertiser.
We are right in the middle of putting together our annual Progress issue. The advertising department is scrambling to get the ads finalized and get them on the pages, editorial is working to finish up stories and layout their pages, and everyone else is trying to keep their part organized — plus everyone is still doing their daily work.
Last year, we started something new with the special issue and published five sections over a full week. We received a lot of positive comments about the change.
Previously, we had published one section of 50 to 60 pages. By spreading it out over a week, we print five sections of 18 to 20 pages each — it will be close to 100 pages or more.
People have said the smaller editions are easier to read at one sitting and don’t seem so daunting. From that standpoint, I agree.
From the editorial standpoint, it’s about 40 additional pages we need to fill. That’s good, because it makes a much better Progress edition for everyone. Time has certainly been a bit of a problem for us this year, but not to worry, we have some great stories for you to read.
The theme this year is “That was then. ... This is now.”
When we originally talked about this theme, we were going to be writing stories about lots of local and area buildings, businesses, even people. We knew this was going to be a huge topic, but, as we got into the project, we discovered it was much bigger than we had anticipated. A lot of research had to go into each story.
So, we had to reduce our vision somewhat and decided to focus mainly on buildings and on the history and progress of some of the smaller surrounding towns.
You will see stories on the Old Hotel in Greenfield, a couple of opera houses currently being restored, Creston’s fire department, hospitals and old federal building, Southwestern Community College and towns including Diagonal, Afton, Talmage and Afton Junction, Thayer and Arispe.
One of the most interesting stories I’ve read, so far, in this edition is about the building where Hair House and Hair Tech are now located. It really has gone through a lot of changes and still keeps its original integrity.
That is just a sampling of what you will see. Of course, there will be a lot more.
And, we have tons of old photos that will be included. Thanks to Steve Francis, Steve Hood, Carol Wallace, Donna Scheel and numerous others who brought photos in for our use. Just about everyone who currently owns these historic buildings also gave us photos.
Unfortunately, there are so many other places we wanted to get to, but we only have so much time and space.
We have already started talking about next year’s theme and are considering keeping the same “That was then. ... This is now,” but concentrating on the history and progress of some of the businesses that have been part of our communities for many, many years.
Some, you may find, have been around for a long time, but may have changed names, locations, even both, more than once over the years.
Watch for Progress 2010 starting March 22. We hope you enjoy this year’s issue.
