OPINION: A season of giving — and of keeping local news in print

As the holiday season begins, we’re reminded of what makes La Conner so special — neighbors looking out for one another, small acts of generosity and stories that bring our community together. For La Conner Community News, this time of year is also our most challenging. The end of the calendar year is often when…

Kari Mar

October 31, 2025

2–3 minutes

As the holiday season begins, we’re reminded of what makes La Conner so special — neighbors looking out for one another, small acts of generosity and stories that bring our community together.

For La Conner Community News, this time of year is also our most challenging. The end of the calendar year is often when nonprofits — especially new ones like ours — feel the pinch. Early-year giving and grant cycles have slowed, but the bills continue. We still need to pay our hardworking local reporters and cover the cost of printing a newspaper that our readers tell us they love holding in their hands.

We launched La Conner Community News this year with incredible community support — more than $130,000 raised toward our $200,000 goal from La Conner residents and supporters, plus two important grants from the Tiny News Collective and the Norcliffe Foundation. That generosity carried us through an extraordinary first year. But we’re still about $70,000 shy of the baseline cost to keep producing the printed paper at our current pace.

Printing a newspaper costs nearly twice as much as hosting a website — yet we’ve heard loud and clear that this printed edition matters. It connects generations, brings neighbors together, and preserves the feel of community journalism at its best. If we can’t close that gap soon, we may have to scale back print production to twice monthly or once a month — something we hope to avoid with your help.

We’re deeply grateful to our all-volunteer fundraising committee — board members Andrew Ashmore and Mark Lundsten, and community members Joan Cross, Susan Macek, and Wende Sanderson — who are working tirelessly to ensure that doesn’t happen. Together, they’re planning a special #GivingTuesday Open House on Dec. 2 at our newsroom, where you can meet our reporters, learn about the future of the paper, and even pick up Bird of the Week notecards or handmade Christmas ornaments.

This season, we hope you’ll include La Conner Community News in your giving. Every donation, large or small, helps keep trusted local journalism alive — and keeps our town’s stories in print for the people who call it home.

Give today. Keep local news in your hands.

Kari Mar is the editor and publisher of La Conner Community News.