Ridin' the Rapids - July 14

River Reflections was launched by my wife, Louise, 44 years ago.

We met while she was working at the Holiday Farm Resort where I was roofing the buildings. After falling in love and getting married in 1978, she told me she wanted to publish a local paper that would include items about the area's history and personalities - and everything in between. As a result, McKenzie River Reflections was born on our dining room table and was printed on the big web press at the Springfield News.

Much has happened in the interim. I lost my beloved wife and partner to Alzheimer's complicated by diabetes in 2020. This week, after delays related to COVID restrictions, I was finally able to get together with her brother and family to spread her ashes.

An act like that certainly brings meaning to the word closure. It is not the word I've chosen for the future of River Reflections.

Regular readers have learned the cost of printing this paper went up considerably after the company we worked with announced that they would no longer print newspapers - as of July 1st. Another company is now producing Reflections on their industrial newsprint press. However, the costs involved are too high to be sustainable.

Last week's hard copy edition (and this one) were both printed in full color. That will be only a short-term improvement, thanks to an advertiser who paid extra for color 1/2 page ads. (Digital subscribers didn't notice any difference because they have been receiving a "color enhanced" version for several years.)

Now is the time for all of our print readers to sign up for digital copies of this newspaper. In August, when Volume 45, Issue 1, rolls off the production line it will end a four-decade-long tradition.

Please don't delay - send your email address today to: [email protected] to keep receiving your weekly dose of "The McKenzie Connection!"