Sunday, February 16th, 2025

Before Facebook…

Before Twitter…

Before Instagram…

There was The Creemore Echo.

When the current incarnation of The Creemore Echo was born in 2001, people still relied almost entirely on newspapers for news and information. Fifteen years ago the information landscape looked quite different. Creemore.com was live but technology wasn’t as accessible.

This version of Creemore’s local newspaper started when retired businessmen Craig Simpson and Phil Stevenson purchased the business from John and Sylvia Wiggins, who were shutting down the newspaper. In the deal, they got Georgi Denison who had already been on staff for a few years.

Denison worked through the transition and saw The Echo come back to life after the purchase date of April 1, 2001, first as a double sided one-page print-out with a community calendar, classifieds and advertising.

Denison said the publication kept growing and by 2002, it was eight or more pages with news, photos and contributed articles and in June of that year, they began printing a broadsheet on newsprint.

Also that year, The Echo hired Sara Hershoff, who is now publisher.

Eventually, The Echo was purchased by the late Jim Vandewater.

“I can remember my father describing the staff at The Echo while he was in the process of buying it,” said son Tom Vandewater. “Of Georgi he said, ‘I get the sense that if Georgi quits tomorrow the business will fall into chaos and the town will not have a paper’. Of Sara he added, ‘She is newest employee, has limited experience in newspapers or commerce… but I think she will run the place one day.’”

“A huge thank you to all of our team members, both former and current, on producing a high quality weekly independent community newspaper. The Vandewater family is committed to seeing The Echo continue to be an independent voice for Creemore and Clearview.”

The Creemore Echo is completely independent and autonomous. The Echo relies entirely on revenue from advertising and subscriptions. Contrary to popular belief, it is not subsidized by the Vandewater family, but it is still owned by the family and Mary and Tom continue to sit on the board of directors and are a source of moral support and encouragement.

At the time of the change in ownership, Simpson stayed on as publisher and, with editor Brad Holden and assistant Fred Mills, the team continued on its mission to provide a professional newspaper to serve the community.

“We don’t just see ourselves as a community newspaper but also a community hub,” said Hershoff. “A place for information, to connect community whether its volunteers to organizations, businesses to customers, people to people or government to residents in a way that’s cohesive and accessible to everyone in the community. And we’ve seen the affect whether it’s supporting Syrian refugees or a ceilidh at the Legion. This is what motivates us to move forward even though it is a tough time for newspapers.”

“We’ve bucked the trend,” she said, “and developed a newspaper at a time when newspapers are declining. We have been able to do it because of the tremendous support of our advertisers and readers. We hope they feel the same way we do, that The Echo makes Creemore a better place to be.”

“With rising postal costs we need their support more than ever,” said Denison.

The Echo holds a subscription drive in May to encourage voluntary subscriptions from those who receive their newspaper in the mail each week through unsolicited mail.

Help us celebrate this Friday, April 1, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Creemore Springs Brewery. Join us for a piece of cake, snacks and a nice cold beer.

One Response

  1. “Don’t forget to pick up a copy of the Creemore Echo when you are out”………..just an every Friday request for the first person venturing uptown. We love our paper, imagine hailing from Stayner and referring to it as ours, and look forward to reading front to back every week. Congratulations on this 15th anniversary and to all the loyal, dedicated staff that pull this great read together every week for us to enjoy! Thank you also to the board of directors and all the faithful advertisers, columnists etc. for their contributions.

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