Y’all come!

To those who have partnered with us in our mission to keep local journalism alive in Warren County by subscribing to the Main Street Journal, we offer our sincere thanks. We were just as dismayed at the upheaval in the Warren County media world brought on by the gutting of the Southern Standard in March as many of you were. I’d dare say we were more dismayed than most, as it meant the end of long-held jobs for many of us and our friends.

Luckily for both the community and those of us who were brought on board within 24 hours of the seismic shift in McMinnville media, Chad Graves, Scot MacDonald and Mark Mabry at Main Street Media were ready to act fast, launching the Main Street Journal the day after Paxton Media bought the 146-year-old paper and jettisoned roughly 80% of the staff. We are committed to stepping into the void and continuing to provide complete, reliable and trusted coverage of all things Warren County, and we hope those of you who have subscribed have found we are living up to that lofty goal.

The subscription numbers have been going up every day since our launch and, no matter how high those numbers grow, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of receiving an email telling me another new subscriber has joined. Each subscriber is both a show of support and an added sense of responsibility to live up to the faith you place in us. It’s a well-worn cliche, but it couldn’t be truer. Without the support of subscribers and advertisers, we truly could not carry on doing this.

I think if anything, the events of the last three months have shown those of us who work as journalists that many people still do place great importance on what we do. That’s sometimes an easy thing to lose sight of. And I think the disruption of local coverage from the source once depended on for it may have reminded the general public of just how much they are missing if it goes away or gets diluted by more out-of-town news. The future of local news coverage is really in your hands. If you value the service we are attempting to provide, please subscribe or advertise.

To show our appreciation for those who have already subscribed and to introduce ourselves to those who aren’t quite sure what this whole Journal thing is all about, we are holding Sundaes on Friday this Friday. We cordially invite the entire community to come to our office at 230 W. Colville St. from noon - 5 p.m. to enjoy a free ice cream sundae. 

And in another show of appreciation, for Friday only we’re offering a special subscriber appreciation day rate of $63 for a one-year subscription. That’s a savings of $21 over the monthly rate - the equivalent of three free months. So, come Friday to meet the Journal team, enjoy free ice cream and take advantage of our special one-day-only deal. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you have about the Journal and we’re more than willing to help you sign up if you need some assistance. Bring your phones, tablets, etc. and we’ll be glad to get you set up.

The special rate will be available from noon - 5 p.m. Friday on our website regardless of whether you’re attending our event, but we’d love to see you at our office to personally thank you, get to know you and let you get to know us. We see each of you as partners in this new venture and we appreciate the importance you place on coverage of local news, sports, business, community events and more. We hope to see you Friday!

Main Street Journal reporter and design editor Seth Weight can be reached at Seth.wright@mainstreetmedia.llc.