By Emily Stonehouse

The other day, I was invited to sit in on a presentation to the Rotary Club by historian Steve Hill on the past stories of newspapers across the county.

And while this topic may not speak to everyone, for me, it was music to my ears.

I have always been a history buff, having worked at both the Haliburton and Minden museums during my upbringing in the area.

But the history of the newspapers is more than just a surface story. It’s the spine that connects us to the generations before. The reasons we know anything from the chapters that have closed. The stories of dreams of successes and hardships and doubt that have echoed through the pages to readers for over a century.

Since 1884 we have had a number of variations to our newspapers. It’s been the Minden Echo. The Haliburton Recorder. Then the Minden Recorder. The Haliburton County Echo. The Minden Times. New names, same goal: bringing the news to the people of Haliburton County.

For years now, the Haliburton Echo and the Minden Times have shared staff, shared photos, shared editors. While there have been phases of distinct staff and editors for each paper, for the most part, in recent history, there’s been overlap.

And at a certain point, we began to realize that our stories started to overlap as well. While Haliburton County is rich with humble hamlets and cozy communities, the lines around these maps have started to blur. News that happens in Gelert suddenly impacts Cardiff. An event in Haliburton may be of interest to someone in Dorset. A robbery in Tory Hill may have implications to someone in Minden.

Our world is getting smaller. And that’s a good thing. We realized that during the ice storm this past spring. When our communications were suddenly cut, and we felt alone. Lost. Trapped.

We depend on the knowledge that there are others alongside our journey. That someone in our world shares our values, shares our dreams, shares our stories.

In an effort to maintain those lines of communication, to blur the lines of us versus them, the Haliburton Echo and the Minden Times have decided that we are going to start focusing on the county as a whole. Blurring lines and sharing stories.

We still believe in the identities of our communities, and the importance of putting their stories first. So with that in mind, our front covers will continue to reflect the communities that they represent. Minden Times with a focus on Minden Hills and Algonquin Highlands, Haliburton Echo with a focus on Dysart et al and Highlands East.

But the bulk of the paper will be the stories across the county. The Echo will carry content from the Times, and vice versa. If you are a reader of both papers, you will see some overlap. If you are a loyal reader to just one, the content will suddenly seem a lot more full, and hopefully well-versed in county-wide communications.

This will also open up the opportunity for our staff to have one extra day – a day that was traditionally used as a second production day for our two papers – to be out in the community. Listening to more stories, becoming more involved, and pushing to learn more, more, more.

I feel honoured to be sitting in the pea-green editor’s chair during this time of change. A chair where many have sat before me, editing and shifting to ever-adapt to the pace of our world, holding steady to the spine of our communities: our stories.

This is a time of a time of growth, a time of change, a time of closing one door, and graciously cracking the hinges of a new one; peeking into the light and hoping for the best.

Hearing the Echoes of the past, and setting the stage for the Times of the future.