Media guide: Vermont villages are publishing boom towns

Vermont Business Magazine, Feb 1994 by Youngwood, Susan

Many of the towns around Burlington which have started their own papers have changed considerably in the last few decades. Once they were small farming communities which could never have supported a newspaper. As Burlington grew, more people moved into these towns, turning them into bedroom communities for commuters. More recently, these towns started developing business districts of their own.

"South Burlington was a bedroom community when we first came here, and there was nothing going on," said Poger, explaining that for a long time, the Free Press provided ample coverage for South Burlington. "But now, we're not a bedroom community any more. We have lots of businesses here. Our politics are different from Burlington's, our needs are different from Burlington's. And other towns are growing in the same way."

Open up a community newspaper and you'll find tons of minutiae. Community papers are where the libraries, recreation departments, churches, schools and community groups can get their calendars and events printed in full.

"School lunch menus, who made the honor role, selectman coverage, school board coverage, events without number," said M Dickey Drysdale, publisher of The Herald of Randolph.

Recent stories in The Colchester Chronicle were "Colchester's Snowplow drivers--they're the best!" a food drive held by the Malletts Bay School, the minutes of the Selectmen's meeting, the 5th grade honor roll, and new hours at the Colchester post office.

The Hinesburg Record gives detailed accounts of municipal and school meetings, news from the volunteer fire department and explanations of how the Hinesburg Recycling Center works. The East Montpelier Signpost listed births, marriages, and news about a citizen who won first prize for her quilt and a new playgroup.

The Hinesburg Record and The East Montpelier Signpost are good examples of the new breed of community newspapers.

June T Giroux started The Hinesburg Record in 1987. "There was a need for a vehicle to inform people of what was happening in meetings of the planning and zoning boards and we thought it very important that people knew what was going on in the schools. No one person can go to every meeting there is."

The Record is nonprofit and is mailed to Hinesburg's 3,500 residents each month; costs are covered by advertising. A former school librarian, Giroux had retired in 1980 and was looking for something td do. At first, she went to all the town meetings and reported what happened; now she has a staff of 30 volunteers who attend the meetings.

None of these volunteers, including herself, consider themselves "journalists." "The majority of them are trying to cover the town for the townspeople," said Giroux. "I don't think they think about having a future in journalism. I'm not a journalist --I'm a volunteer for The Hinesburg Record."

In East Montpelier, Jean Cate doesn't consider herself a journalist, either. "We are community centered people who are doing a job that, honest, almost anybody could do. It's no different than serving on a planning committee."