Well, it took a while but Bashaw Star’s front page and flag has been changed and is ready for business.
Plans to make a change have been in the works for a few months but with a busy holiday season and several big events at the end of the year, those plans had to be put by the wayside and returned to at a later date.
Why the need for a change? Over the last couple of years in speaking with residents and readers there were a few areas where it was seen that the paper could add to.
The biggest addition to this page, and the paper, is the creation of a permanent Bashaw historical column. With much thanks to the Bashaw Historical Society, we will be working on a weekly series of historical stories and photos.
The front page left preview photo will showcase what the story is and what page it is on. We’ve also changed the name from Blast from the Past to Remember When. Much of that is thanks to input from folks on the Bashaw Community Events Facebook page.
One of our more popular features in recent years has been the historical photos and putting that together into a more precise name and function has been an important part of our plans.
Among the other ideas are to use puzzles such as sudoku or crosswords, or both. The desire to use puzzles was confirmed after speaking with a few readers at the Bashaw Hotel during coffee. That was further confirmed when speaking with folks on the Bashaw Community Events page.
I created an informal poll on the page asking what puzzles folks would enjoy seeing and sudoku won over the others, even crosswords. Funnily enough, folks in Ponoka on a similar informal poll had the majority in favour of crosswords. Go figure!
Sudoku has already been used a few times now on page 8.
On the bottom left of the front page will feature what puzzle is being used and what page it’s on. The second middle thumbnail is a preview of a big story occurring that week. While this is a small paper, it’s also nice to be able to showcase what’s happening.
The creation of the new front page is possible through collaboration with the entire team here at Bashaw Star/Ponoka News and includes work with publisher Judy Dick and our design crew that puts together my vague ideas and suggestions into reality.
Is any of this worth the work? Does anybody care?
I know I do, and I know that we’ve received awards not only for best editorial recently, but also for best sports page. These are events to celebrate and remember in these interesting days of newspaper delivery.
So, please enjoy our pages with us as we take in 2019.
jeff.heyden-kaye@ponokanews.com
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